Fatal Frame V: Vengeance
by The History Queen
Summary: Three people are drawn to the mysterious Watanabe Shrine, also known as the Shrine of Death. One seeks to fulfill a late colleague's dream, one to solve a 27 year old mystery, and one simply wants to help. But the three will uncover more than what they bargained for and are soon plunged into a centuries old nightmare. Will they survive, or will the Skinless Man claim them?
1. Prologue: Under a Full Moon

**Hello once again ladies and gentlemen! I have returned with another story for you all! Tis the season to be jolly and I promise this story will induce that feeling (and spine tingling terror… muwahaha! ) ) Christmas is a time of ghost stories too, just think of the ghosts from Charles Dickens _"A Christmas Carol". _This is my very first ghost story so feel free to critique and provide any hints or tips. Now this opening may be a little drawn out, but like the games, I want to bring in detail and set the environment for my viewers. Without further adieu, enjoy and happy holidays! :)**

**Music List****  
**

_***= Encounter to Himuro Mansion- Fatal Frame OST (stripedlady)**_

_****= Another Hallway- Fatal Frame OST (**_**_stripedlady)_**

**_***= Fatal Frame 4 soundtrack - Battle E (inofan122)_**

**Extra Symbol**

**!= info down below after story**

**Author's Note****: Profanity ahead**

* * *

**March 14, 1984**

**Somewhere in Fukushima Prefecture**

A brilliant full moon hung in the black-blue sky and a massive entourage of stars accompanied it. The celestial audience stared down on the mortal earth below, as they have always done since forever. But this sky was not the interest of a group of four, young intrepid explorers. Their focus was instead on searching for a path to a place only heard of in legend and school hall rumor: Watanabe Shrine, better known amongst the eager minded young as the "Shrine of Death". And residing in that shrine, according to legend, was a spirit called the "Skinless Man".

Legends state that on May 21, 1855, a warlord, wanting the land that the shrine was located on, attacked it while a festival was in full swing and massacred all those that were gathered. The "Skinless Man" was supposedly one of the victims. However one cannot always find a grain of truth to these rumors but nonetheless, it was still interesting and it made a boring lunch hour more fun when it was told to a bunch of gullible high school students as they ate their bento lunches with wide eyes and soba noodles dangling out of their mouths like the tail of a **!**Onagadori rooster. In fact, the four that was assembled in the vast forest below the stars were a motely crew of teenagers; two girls, two boys, ages fourteen, sixteen, and eighteen.

These explorers however were as green as the budding leaves on the trees.

"Ow! Goddamnit!" shouted one of the youths. The young man shone his flashlight on his right leg to find that a thorned branch had pierced through his denim jeans. Working his fingers over the prickly thing, he managed to pinch a spot that had no thorns and he tore it off and threw it into the bushes. The thorns had left scratches and punctures that bled softly.

"Are you alright Tetsuo?" the voice of one of the girls asked in a concerned tone. The young man replied:

"I'm fine Ayumi. I just walked into a damn briar bush." As he was brushing his wound with a gloved hand, another light was shone upon him.

"You seriously walked into a thorn bush? Did you slip into it? Because if you did, don't blame me for your choice of footwear for this expedition."

The other young man was right, Tetsuo Mori was not dressed for a moonlit walk in the forest. He was dressed in the latest Japanese punk fashion, which consisted of leather, chains, metal studs and spikes and gelled spiked hair with a dyed crimson streak that hung in his face. His boots were a conglomeration of this, their most prominent feature were the leather patches decorated with metal studs on the heels, and they clumped on the hard earth like a giant's footsteps.

"Shut up Daiki!" he hissed at his friend who in turn shrugged and turned back onto the forested path with his flashlight and map. A girl walked by his side holding a compass and was gazing at the map with him.

"If we continue this way, we will surely reach the shrine," she said confidently. Tetsuo merely moaned with annoyance. His girlfriend, Ayumi Oshiro merely rolled her eyes towards her boyfriend's immaturity and she walked up to her sister Rina, resulting in a scowl from a displeased Tetsuo. After approximately five minutes of walking, the group stumbled upon a moss ridden stone path. Excited, the four began hurrying up the road eventually coming across a flight of equally grown steps that led up to their prime destination, the gates of Watanabe Shrine.

The group, both excited and hesitant at the same time, began their march up the moss and leaf covered steps. They moved their flashlights about to get a better look of the massive gate. The stunning woodwork still retained its hand carved beauty albeit it being weather worn and the tengu masks that hung on the bottom tier for protection were paint chipped and worn as well. Tetsuo and Daiki opened the elegant wood and iron doors onto the moon washed entrance courtyard of the shrine. *****The courtyard was massive.

Enclosed by walls that seemed to go on forever, the enclosure contained a simple stone path that led up to the main entrance hall of the shrine, the path itself had rows of stone lanterns on each side, raked gravel ground that was studded with dead cherry trees that made the place look an eerie forest of stone and dead wood. Swallowing their courage, the group pressed on down the stone path.

"Hey sis." Rina asked quietly to Ayumi.

"What?"

"Why are some of these lanterns lit? Do you think someone was here before or…"

Now that she mentioned it, Ayumi noticed that some of the lanterns had tiny flickering flames that dimly lit the path. It was eerie. Who had lit them?

"You girls getting scared?" Daiki asked in a teasing voice.

"Course they are, they're girls. Girls are easy to scare." Tetsuo interjected with his logic.

"So says the guy who screamed when he saw a mouse in his attic the other day…" Ayumi said. The group chuckled as Tetsuo deservingly blushed. They reached the doors of the shrine, which had two paper lanterns on each side that were also lit, casting an ethereal glow upon the entrance. Daiki opened the doors and the group walked over the threshold. Upon walking into the foyer, the noses of the four were assaulted with the smells of decrepitude.

Must, moisture and vegetation perfumed their noses as they entered the ancient hall. Cobwebs and dust made their homes on the support beams, grimy paper windows that allowed a little moonlight to pass through, and a massive line of shoe cabinets that lined the raised floor. The ground floor was littered with mouse eaten or moldy geta (sandals). The light of the flashlights pierced the dimly lit darkness as the group moved forward. They soon reached a hall whose walls were composed of rice paper sliding doors that obviously led to dormitories for religious pilgrims to stay in.

"Why don't we split up?" Tetsuo said. The others looked at him bewilderingly.

"Why?" Ayumi asked.

"Because that way we can cover more ground." Tetsuo said in a matter-of-fact tone. He gestured to Daiki to come with him and he did, leaving the girls alone together as they left. Ayumi had a hunch that there was more to this split. The boys were probably going to try and scare them when the opportunity was given.

Brushing it off, they opened a paper sliding door to find to their surprise that moldy futons were still on the tatami floor. The blankets were tossed about haphazardly as if they had been flung off in a hurry, personal articles like clothes and books lay about on the floor. One book in particular caught Ayumi's attention. It was lying by an overturned paper lantern. Ayumi got on one knee to pick it up to look at it.

The book was very old; its pages were caked in a course patina of dust and mold from dampness was forming in the spine, but the charcoal ink characters were still legible and bold despite their age. Ayumi read it aloud:

_"It was a pretty day today. The festival is almost here. The priests just have to perform one more ceremony that they say will grant this region peace and prosperity for thirteen years. I wander what kind of ceremony this is? They never talk about it with the other pilgrims here."_

"Ceremony?" Rina asked. Ayumi shrugged.

"I don't know. Must have been very important though. Sadly it didn't appear to give them any peace…"

The sisters both thought of the story of how the warlord massacred all of the people. Rina spoke after a thought came to her mind.

"But sis, this person doesn't mention a daimyo or even a samurai anywhere. Don't you think that a heated argument about land would certainly be well known to the pilgrims that were staying here?"

Ayumi considered her younger sister's question.

"I don't know, maybe the priests didn't want to worry the people."

Ayumi put the book back down.

"Maybe this is the "Skinless Man's" dairy." Rina said with a giggle and was rewarded with a playful fist to the stomach. As the two giggled, Tetsuo and Daiki wandered about the old halls. The once immaculate white walls were now stained and filthy and the floors were covered in so much dust, that the boys were sure that they were leaving footprints.

"So Daiki, listen, we've got to get these girls scared tonight. Did you bring your camera?"

Daiki reached into a pouch he had on his left hip and procured a camera. He wasn't exactly too thrilled about where this was going.

"Do we have to man? I don't want to scare Rina. She's the first girlfriend that I am actually serious about."

"She will be fine. It's Ayumi that I'm worried about. She's a little harder to scare."

A loud clank caused both boys to jump and they both relaxed when they found it was just a piece of wood. The ceiling must be coming apart. Laughing off their scare the boys continued onwards. As they continued, Daiki noticed that some of the walls had these strange black stains on them that resembled scorch marks. As they wandered, Daiki saw that parts of the floor and even the ceiling had those same markings, what were they? Daiki couldn't see any place of origin for a fire anywhere.

"Daiki…" a low voice resonated through the quiet halls. Daiki froze.

"Daiki Ishikawa!" Tetsuo's hands descended on the young man's face causing him to scream. He frantically shook off his friend who laughed hysterically at his fear. Daiki got angry.

"Tetsuo, you are such an asshole!"

Tetsuo could barely speak he was laughing so hard. Angry and embarrassed, Daiki marched off from his cackling friend. He must have been so absorbed with the markings on the walls that Tetsuo let Daiki go on ahead of him so he could sneak up on him. After regaining his composure, Tetsuo ran up to his friend, his boots clomping all way.

"Hey Daiki-san, I'm sorry. You were spacing off and all and I was just wanted to test my skills before I-" Tetsuo suddenly stopped talking. Daiki became annoyed.

"Nice try buddy. The first time may have worked but the second one sure as hell won't—"

His words stopped as he turned to see his friend, pale, mouth hung agape and his eyes wide. Daiki had never seen Tetsuo like this. He could tell by this demeanor that Tetsuo wasn't playing around this time. The young man pointed a trembling finger into a dimly lit hallway. Daiki followed it and squinted into the dark only to find himself freezing into place too.

Through the darkness and moonlight, the two could make out the faint figure of a person. It was far away but the boys could see the shapes of the snow-white hands and face of the figure and even though they couldn't see the eyes, they could tell it was looking right at them.

"Daiki… take a picture…" Tetsuo whispered fearfully.

"What?" Daiki asked tentatively.

"I said take a picture… Now, before it goes away!" Tetsuo hissed loudly. Daiki frantically did as ordered. The figure began to turn slowly away from the two and just as Daiki took a picture, the figure vanished. The photo came out and the boys immediately looked at it. Right there on the photo was the figure and on closer examination, they could make out that it was wearing a kimono and it appeared to have a feminine shaped body.

The boys stared wide-eyed at it; unable to comprehend on what they had just seen. They had just seen a ghost, a real ghost! Looking straight at each other with frightened eyes the two high tailed it. Just as they got to the door they went through earlier, the boys found it to be locked.

"What the hell!" Daiki cried

"What's going on?"

"The doors locked! I can't get it open!" Daiki was frantically pulling on the slot to try and move the wooden sliding door but it wouldn't budge an inch and it just rattled in its frame. Just then the two heard a low giggle coming from behind the door.

"Did you hear that?" Daiki said.

Tetsuo suddenly kicked the door hard with his boot.

"Goddamnit! Ayumi! Rina! You better not be behind this door when we open it and I mean it! This isn't funny!"

His words only seemed to goad even more giggles from the door and he kicked it even harder again. But Ayumi and Rina were not behind the door. They were in the other pilgrim dormitory, looking around a lovely garden courtyard with a willow tree in the center. They didn't hear the shouting. They were blissfully unaware of the events that were unfolding.

Tetsuo and Daiki struggled with the mysteriously locked door.

"Do you need help mister?" the voice of a young girl filled the ears of both boys. But before they could get over their confusion, a small and very pale hand reached through the door and grabbed the hands of the boys. Its touch was ice cold. The young men shrieked in horror just as the child's giggling got louder.

"Here you go!" the voice said cheerfully as its hand unlocked the door. The boys couldn't have gotten out fast enough and they nearly took the door off its hinges the way they ran. As they sprinted, a wall of black flames suddenly materialized out of thin air.***/ **** This time Ayumi and Rina heard the screaming and they came running towards the direction it came from, only to find an empty, moonlit hallway bereft of the owners of those terrified screams.

The two women clung to each other closely. The air felt heavy and oppressive.

"Tetsuo! Daiki!" Ayumi called out nervously. No response. Where had they gone? The two women moved together simultaneously with caution.

What the hell was going on? How could two screaming young men just vanish like that without a trace?

"You two better not be playing us or you're both gonna be sorry!" Ayumi yelled. As they made their way down the hallway slowly, their ears sharp and ready for any noises that might come from the boys. To the left of the girls was a wooden door but upon trying to open it, it wouldn't budge, it appeared to be locked. After some more walking they came across the door that the men had been struggling with earlier but found that it wouldn't open either and on top of that, just reaching for the slot was impossible because of an icy cold aura that seemed to permeate the thing.

Just then the women heard a loud creaking noise. Frozen with fear, and with the hairs on the back of their neck standing straight, Ayumi and Rina at first did nothing but stare wide eyed at the sound. It sounded like it came from down the hall. Turning back to where they came, the sisters found the door that they couldn't enter earlier was now wide open. Perplexed and disturbed by this occurrence, the two nonetheless ventured in.

It was a dining hall, long rows of lacquered tables with cups and serving dishes that seemed to have been spared from ruin, and green zabuton (seat cushions) were all assembled on the tatami matting. However the rice paper doors at the front of the room were in tatters. Years of rain and heavy winds had damaged them beyond repair, the paper squares were moldy, pockmarked with holes and gashes and the wooden patchwork frame was somewhat lifted off its sliding track and was bent and broken in a few places. In fact the tatami and tables near the damaged shoji were in a bad state of disrepair with mold and wood rot. The place was eerily quiet.

As the two made their way, they were sure that they heard a teacup or two rattling softly and they weren't sure if it was either their tender footfalls that were causing the ruckus or, something sinister. They went through the narrow kitchen and through another dining hall that was probably for the priests and priestess's. Just as they entered it:

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH! OH MY GOD HELP ME!"

The girls jumped and they recognized that scream. It was Tetsuo's. It sounded like it came from some distant part of the shrine. What the hell was happening to him? Just then they heard what sounded like wind blowing coming down the adjacent hall. Panicking yet knowing better, the girls hid in a storage closet nearby.

Crouching down by neatly stacked zabuton and tables, the girls shivered and panted quietly. Through a tiny crack in the door, they could see another door opening all by itself and finally a great shadowy figure passed through. From what little they could glean from the crack, it looked like some kind of black fire. As they leaned closer to look, Rina's knees pressed hard on the wooden boards, causing them to creak rather loudly.

They both froze.

Then what happened next… ****/**

*******Rina soon found herself screaming and running down the halls as fast as she could. The whole area was engulfed in black flames, the air was monochrome, and the sounds of roaring and screaming filled the once still air. It was as if Hell itself had materialized in this shrine. She kept running, even as she heard the screams of her friends and sister echo in her ears, stinging the sensitive drums like knives and causing tears to stream down her face. But she didn't dare look back.

She knew what was behind her.

He was chasing her. The spirit of that place…

The "Skinless Man"…

The next morning, a farmer and his son were driving their truck when they found Rina by the side of the road. She was curled into a ball, her eyes wide-open and red, mouth open in shock and her hair white as snow. When he tried to touch her to see if she was alive, she screamed and fought him.

"Please! Please don't! Ayumi!" she sobbed.

The farmer, terrified, stood up and backed away from her. He looked towards the direction of shrine.

He knew.

* * *

**So what do you guys think? Is it scary? My parents thought it was tense! The black and white atmosphere is a Fatal Frame staple, experienced when encountering powerful ghosts like Kirie Himuro, Sae Kurosawa, Reika Kuze or Sakuya Haibara. Thank you for reading and _please review! :)_**

**!= A type of rooster that lives in Japan and possesses a record breaking long tail. One had been featured in _"Ripley's Believe It or Not!"._**


	2. Chapter 1: Ceremony of Cleansing

**Here is the second chapter! It was originally going to be the first but fan fiction doesn't seem to recognize prologue chapters, so I updated it. Anyway, this chapter introduces our first major character, Akio Toshimoto. I was originally going to introduce two but I decided to have the chapter focus on him and the other will focus on the other. Then I will separate the chapters into sections dedicated to one of them. **

**The third one will show up later. Kind of like Kei Amakura in the third Fatal Frame. Speaking of which, his last name is going to be a surprise! I hope you all enjoy this one! This one shall be dedicated to B.B Wolf123, the first commenter of this story! :)**

**Music List**

***= Fatal Frame OST - Research for Nothing (****_stripedlady_)**

****= Fatal Frame Soundtrack: 16 - Men in the Dark (_Mayu'sCharm)_**

* * *

**August 1, 2011**

**27 years later…**

A summer rain shower had left the night air fresh and alive with the smells of soil and clean plants. The heat in the night air, combined with the recent deluge, created a reaction that subsequently veiled the forest in a thick, low hovering fog. This didn't deter the young man who was taking a late night stroll however. His flashlights beam wasn't working too well with the fog, but at least he had a great sense of direction. Utilizing his smartphone, he found Google maps and the compass app to be quite helpful.

With these amazing technologies, he was able to make decent progress through the humid mist. The man's name was Akio Toshimoto, age twenty-seven; he was a mythology professor at Iwaki Meisei University in the city of Iwaki, which was located in Fukushima Prefecture. Friendly and easy to get along with, Akio was popular among his students and coworkers for this and his passion for the subject he taught. His most favorite part of mythology involved ghosts. His love of the paranormal stemmed from the fact that he was psychic.

He had known that he had this ability since he was nine but he usually kept this fact to himself so he wouldn't face ridicule. The only people who knew of this ability were close members of his family. His grandmother Natsumi had helped him in the past to cope with his power before she died at the ripe old age of eighty-one back in 2000 and then there was Professor Ikue Asou. She was a fellow professor at the university and was a close friend of Akio's. Descended from the great folklorist and paranormal enthusiast, Kunihiko Asou, Ikue had followed in her great-great uncle's footsteps.

She was one of the few people that Akio could talk to about his paranormal experiences since it was somewhat of a taboo subject to bring up in his family. Sadly however, Ikue died a week ago at the age of seventy-two due to lung cancer. Her lifelong smoking habit had finally caught up to her. In her will, she entrusted Akio her Camera Obscura, a camera that her ancestor Kunihiko Asou was credited for inventing. It was a device that could take pictures of things that the normal eye was incapable of seeing.

It was certainly an antique; it was based off of the design of an 1880's camera model called a Lancaster that Kunihiko had made before he mysteriously disappeared in 1888. Akio had the camera strapped securely to his side, touching it occasionally to make sure it was still there. He was on his way to Watanabe Shrine, but why? After Ikue's death, Akio began getting strange dreams of seeing his elderly friend wandering by the entrance of the shrine with the camera. Every time he'd call out to the senior, she'd touch the door and dark flames would seep out through the cracks, then exploding into a huge inferno that seemed to engulf everything, and then he would wake up gasping and dripping with sweat.

He remembered that Ikue was obsessed with a certain aspect of her family history: the disappearance of her great-grandfather Hideki Asou. Just like his uncle, Hideki mysteriously disappeared without a trace at Watanabe Shrine in early September of 1907. He too was a folklorist and he was trying to find proof of the paranormal to prove his missing uncle's findings to the scientific community at large. Local police tried to investigate his disappearance but the villagers halted their efforts. Any clandestine operations made yielded nothing.

It was like he simply stopped existing.

In the past, Ikue had tried many times to go the shrine to investigate because in her own words, "she saw the pain of his loss was still etched into her grandmother's, Hideki's daughter, memory and she wanted to try and help give her peace." But Ikue never got the chance before the cancer destroyed her lungs. Akio wanted to help his deceased friend who was like a grandmother to him. He wanted to help put her soul at rest by finding what had happened to her great-grandfather. He could repay the kindness she gave him all those years this way.

He knew his wife wouldn't approve. She was seven months pregnant with their first child, a girl, and even though she was due in two months, Tomomi would want her husband home with her just in case an early labor kicked in. Rather than lie to her, he told her the truth and after some arguing, he won her over with his intentions of freeing Ikue's soul from her burden. Tomomi reluctantly agreed and told her husband to be safe. She would stay with his mother in the meantime, the cover story being that he was going to an entomologist convention in Tokyo since he was also an avid insect lover and that he would be gone for a week.

With the humid air causing his dark green shirt to stick to his chest, Akio walked on. After walking through a seemingly unchanging landscape, he managed to see a long flight of worn moss ridden and cracked stairs trailing up the hill. The moment he glanced at those stairs, he had a vision. He was suddenly in the distant past as he could see the figures of Shinto priests (and oddly enough, some of them had their heads shaved like Buddhist monks) dressed in their ritual robes. They were chanting something in a beautiful pulsing rhythm.

As they walked up the clean, well-kept stairs of the past, Akio saw these five other figures dressed purely in white. They had what appeared to be blindfolds wrapped around their heads and their guides held their hands and arms as they were led up the stairs. Who were those people? And with that, the vision ended and the ruin of the present was back in sight. Taking a deep breath, Akio proceeded up the steps.

He hoped the traction of his Nikes would stick so he wouldn't plummet on the hard, slippery stones. Yet that was the least of his worries. As he got closer to the gate, he felt uneasy. Even before he reached the steps Akio could feel a powerful and malevolent force emanating from the shrine. He entered the courtyard regardless.

The fog hovered over the once magnificent grounds like a pall over a casket. The lights of the lanterns were like little halos in the fog. A chill went up Akio's spine.

Something was there.

Taking the camera into his hands, Akio began to focus the lens around the area. He saw nothing at first until he saw four figures walking down the path leading to the shrine. He could see that two were young women and they were looking at the lanterns. Akio's sixth sense picked up snippets of their phantom conversation as they walked further away.

"Getting scared?... Of course they are… They're girls… So says the one who screamed when he saw a mouse…"

A faint echo of laughter filled Akio's ears as he took a picture. The group continued on their merry way towards the main entrance of the shrine and then disappeared altogether. Akio's body relaxed but he wandered. Who were those people just now, and what had happened to them? Maybe the answer could be found inside the shrine.

Without further adieu, he made the walk towards the Entrance Hall. Looking around, Akio noticed how some of the nearby trees stood out in the fog, their branches like the dark fingers of some sinister, conniving demon. It reminded him of the old horror films like the Wolfman and the fake trees on the set with dry ice fog. But no horror director could ever duplicate the vibe that this place possessed. There was real evil here and even people lacking the sixth sense could feel that.

Upon reaching the doors, Akio felt his heart rate quicken and his body tense. If he opened this door, he was going to be in the world of spirit, a mercurial realm were the dead reign and the living must show respect and caution, elsewise they could join the dead in their never ending waltz in purgatory.

"I must do this," he said to himself, "for Dr. Asou to have peace, I must do this."

His heart steadied, maybe Ikue was watching over him. That made him feel a little better, at least she wasn't doing this, alive or not… Eyeing the door with determination, Akio entered the shrine. *****Must and mold greeted his nose. The place was wreck.

Luckily, there was nothing malevolent here, yet…

Akio could see the scampering forms of mice as they cowered under the raised floor as he walked up the steps, the old wooden boards creaking with each step. Moonlight shone through the paper windows despite the mold and residue, bathing the foyer in silver-blue light. Upon reaching the Dormitory Hall, he felt something. Turning to his right, he saw that the shoji was open and two figures of young women. One was kneeling and the other was standing with her hands on her knees, both were looking at a book.

The kneeling girl wore a pretty lavender sweater, blue jeans and cropped hair and Akio could see the arms of glasses over her left ear while the other had much longer hair and was wearing a denim jacket, black shirt, a pink skirt with a black veil over it, and knee length socks. As Akio took out the camera, the heads of the women slowly turned and he managed to get a good picture of them facing him. They disappeared right after the flash faded, leaving behind the book. Reading the dairy, Akio became curious at the mention of a ceremony. Could it be referencing to the Ceremony of Cleansing?

The Ceremony of Cleansing was an event that only occurred once every thirteen years at Watanabe Shrine in the past. The ceremony consisted of a series of unknown and mysterious rituals that helped purge the region of evil and malice but the inner workings and designs of these rituals were unknown to most. There was one ritual associated with the ceremony that the locals knew about from ancient records. It was called the Choosing or the Gathering ritual. This occurred in the first week of January and it involved the Kannushi (Head Priest and also the Ceremony Master of the prominent Watanabe Family who had built the shrine in ancient times), a retinue of priests and a young blind male member of the Watanabe family.

The occupants of a village would be gathered and the young man, called a Malice Seer, was sent amongst them. Even in the bitter cold, the young man only wore hakama pants, tabi socks and sandals and a thick swathe of bandages over his eyes. This young man wore them to hide his disfigured eyes, many records say sometimes the wounded eyes would bleed or ooze pus but no one ever questioned on what happened to them lest they feared the same fate would befall them... The Malice Seer would walk into the crowd, and as if guided by some supernatural force, he would choose a proper participant for the Ceremony of Cleansing rituals. That chosen person was never seen again.

Stories go that this ritual was concluded when five people have been chosen from random villages around the shrine. Four or five months would pass before the Kannushi would announce the end of the Ceremony with a festival that celebrated the coming thirteen years of peace. This festival was called the Festival of Purity. Another festival that occurred here happened in April to celebrate the blooming of the shrine's famous cherry trees. But the last Hanami (cherry tree viewing) was in the April of 1855 and the Festival of Purity did not happen because everyone died due to a warlord's greed…

Now the cherry trees were dead. The locals believed that the anger and distress of the spirits took the life of the once vibrant and beautiful trees for the last 156 years. For a minute, Akio could picture the life that once filled these halls. The travel weary pilgrims and families who shared stories and conversation, laughter, children playing in the garden or with their parents. It was all gone now, the only life these halls contained were the mice, mold and Akio's being. It was a sad thing to think about.

Akio suddenly felt tense, he could feel not one presence but two and they were right behind him.

"Heeheeheeheeheeheeheehee…."

Low giggling resonated in Akio's ears, it sounded like a little girl and she was right beside him because he could feel a chilling touch of breath hit his right ear. Akio rapidly turned around with his flashlight only to find nothing. He then heard the running of several footsteps down the hall. Curious, Akio stepped out into the hall. No one was there.

He then heard terrifying screams close by. He prepared his camera just in case a ghost appeared. Nothing came. He went down to the hallway, only to find it empty except for the moonlight that was shining through the wooden bar windows, illuminating the floor with beams that exposed little particles of dust in the air. It looked peaceful but something did not feel right.

On the floor was a massive, deep scorch mark that stained the wood and walls. It was like a fire had happened there but the wood or plaster didn't look charred. Akio felt a sense of foreboding, like something terrible happened in this hallway, not once but twice as there were a few other marking that permeated the area.

"Soooo…deeeeepppp…"

******Akio froze, a ghost was here! It spoke with a deep, guttural tone of voice. Akio got the camera out, Ikue would be proud to see her great-great uncle's invention being used so often. There was nothing in front of Akio, but when he turned around, the lenses focused on the specter. The man was dressed like a peasant and he looked young, around seventeen or nineteen perhaps.

The ghost walked slowly with faltering steps, his hand clutching his throat, blood flowing through his pale, gray fingers and poured down his chest, staining his shirt while in his other hand was a blood soaked knife. The spirit turned his head to see Akio. His eyes were completely white save for the faint outline of the irises. He opened his blood soaked mouth like he was about to gasp. He removed his hand from his throat, revealing a very deep and fatal slash that crossed his throat in a dark line, making it look like he had a second mouth that was closed on his neck.

A shiver went up Akio's spine, it was such a gruesome injury. The ghost slowly brought both his hands slightly in front of his chest.

"Sooooo… deeeeepppp," he continued with his hoarse and distant voice. He continued with his shambling gait, gurgling noises resounding from his mouth. Akio steadied himself, waiting for the mystic circle in the camera's lense to charge. As the ghost slowly got closer, the kanji characters began to come alive around the ornate circle.

"They made me do it… They made me do this…"

_Slashed Throat_ disappeared briefly only to appear on Akio's right side of the wall and then disappeared and returned again this time on his left. The circle was almost full. He appeared in front of Akio by a short distance and he raised his knife hand, preparing to charge. The mystic circle glowed red and Akio pressed the button. The **Shutter Chance** utterly devastated the ghost and he was pushed back violently howling in pain.

After recovering, the ghost repeated the cycle with the next **Shutter Chance** promptly defeating him. He grabbed his throat again as he fell to his knees, gasping in shock before vanishing into the moonlit air. A very weak ghost indeed. Just as the ghost disappeared, Akio's mind was suddenly transported through time. When he regained his senses, he found himself in a monochrome world and soon he found himself in the point of view of a young man. He was wearing peasant clothing and he was holding a knife in his hands and was flanked by two other young men who carried baskets, hammers and a ladder.

They were heading towards a massive bell. With the tools and equipment they were carrying, Akio was sure of the time period this was taking place in. This was either 1868 or 69, the years of the Boshin War and an event called the Haibutsu kishaku (literally "abolish Buddhism and destroy Shākyamuni" *Wikipedia). It was a time of anti-Buddhist fervor when temples and objects related to the religion were destroyed. The tools of these young men suggested that they were going to dismantle the bell so they could melt the shards to make cannons for the war.

The ladder was set up against the bell post with a soft clump, and the young man climbed up. Akio could feel the fingers gripping the rungs and the wood of the knife hilt between his teeth. The man took it out and proceeded to cut through the thick rope that suspended the bell.

But then something happened.

Something cold, sharp and unpleasant began to take over the young man's body, like he was having a heart attack. He stopped cutting the rope, frozen to the spot. As his friends asked what was wrong, the young man slowly slipped the blade away from the rope. He then suddenly stabbed his own throat with the knife. The pain was horrendous.

It stung and then burned with such fury and the young man proceeded to carve his throat, the sounds of the muscles, flesh and trachea being cut was absolutely nauseating. The terrified screams of his friends filled both his and Akio's ears. The man fell off the ladder with a thud on the hard stones, his bloody knife in his hand and the sounds of the running footfalls of his friends growing faint in his ears. Color rushed out of his body like the blood gushing from his destroyed throat. Flashback faded and Akio grasped his throat in shock.

The pain felt so real it was terrifying. After regaining his composure, Akio checked to see how much film he had. He had plenty left and he had some reserves on hand. Sighing with relief, Akio closed up the camera and rubbed his neck. He returned to his journey through the empty hallways wandering where to go next. If only he knew what was watching him from the shadows…

* * *

**So what do guys think of that ghost? Pretty scary huh? I know this may have been slow at first, but like I said in the first one, I am establishing the ****environment and now, character. How did you guys like the point of view visions? I chose 2011 as the date because thats when I originally started the story.**

** I was scared to post this story along with my other one because I am autistic, but now I have and I am very happy about it! :) **

**Thanks for reading and _please review! :)_**


	3. Chapter 2: Night Terror

**Chapter 3 is here! This chapter shall introduce our heroine, Sumiko Yamada. I will also introduce another new camera ****design. I hope you all enjoy!**

* * *

_**Meanwhile…**_

As Akio entered the shrine, another wanderer came up the steps. The individual watched as he went inside. Placing her chin between her right thumb and forefinger, the young woman thought for a moment and she looked around. She saw to the far left of the wall next to the shrine entrance, was another door. Deciding it would be best to take that passage instead of the one Akio took; the young woman proceeded with her flashlight in hand.

Her name was Sumiko Yamada; age eighteen, a junior in high school, part time worker in at convenience store, and a lover of horror films and gothic fashion. On first encounters, Sumiko appears tart and unfriendly, but once understood better, she proves to be a reliable and friendly person. But what brought her to this shrine? Her reasons for being at there that foggy night could be considered the same for all adventurous teens. She wanted to solve the mystery of the Disappearance of the Watanabe Three in 1984.

The story had always been a hot topic amongst the girls and boys of Sumiko's class when summer rolled in. They would speak in hushed tones to intimidate the listeners and tell them their bastardized version on what had gone down. It was quite a list. Those with an average imagination told of a crazed samurai ghost that hacked them all to bits with his katana, the less imaginative spoke of knife wielding serial killers or chainsaw wielding maniacs (totally ripping off American B Horror movies), and the ones with the most imagination told of how the group somehow awoke a demon and it possessed one of the girls and she killed them in a blind frenzy. But regardless, they all ended the same. The fourteen-year-old girl was the sole survivor and the bodies of the three teens were never found.

The girl, Rina Oshiro, went insane and disappeared later on.

No one knew what had become of her.

"How could anyone buy into those stupid stories?" said Minako Kobayashi, Sumiko's best friend, as they ate lunch on the school roof.

"Stupid people," Sumiko would say, taking a bite full of tempura and rice, "or just really gullible people," she said with her mouth full, crunching the fried batter that covered the shrimp. She did believe in ghosts however, just not the stupid, twisted and exaggerated stories her peers told underclassmen for kicks. But there was something about that story that fascinated Sumiko. She remembered looking on the Internet and she pulled up an image of an old newspaper article that displayed the pictures of the missing teens: **Ayumi Oshiro – 18, Daiki Ishikawa – 16, and Tetsuo Mori – 18**. Those faces, smiling towards the camera, the only identification of them and their existence to the sympathetic masses.

It was sad to think that the only reason these three teens were remembered in the present was for their disappearance. No one seemed to want to find out more about them, like if they were honor students, what their favorite food was, hobbies, likes, dislikes, that sort of thing. Sumiko guessed that thinking of a victim as a person was too boring for some of her shallow peers and making them into test dummies for their dumb rumors was more invigorating and fun. And the thought of those families never knowing what had happened to their children and never having closure hurt Sumiko's heart very much. She wanted to help, even though they were now a twenty-seven year old memory.

And so, Sumiko found herself at the site of where it happened, Watanabe Shrine. Her mother was very ill at the moment and was currently hospitalized. Her grandparents let her take off to relax and be a teen. Her boyfriend Shu wanted to come along, but Sumiko insisted that she wanted to have some alone time. To prepare herself for whatever, paranormal encounter she might have, Sumiko brought her own Camera Obscura.

It was a gift from her boyfriend for their five-month anniversary. It was an old fashioned flash camera (the kind used by journalists in the 40s or 50s) that Shu's father had made based off of the designs of the famous folklorist Kunihiko Asou. Upon receiving it, Sumiko felt bad about the gift she gave Shu. It was a bottle of cologne.

He liked it though.

Sumiko made her way across the foggy courtyard with caution. The door opened with a low creak, and she came across a long path that passed the Pilgrim Dormitory garden wall. She tensed, she didn't hear anything resembling the man coming to investigate but nonetheless she walked carefully on the stepping-stones in the dirt path. As she passed by the Dining Halls, Sumiko had the feeling that she was being watched. She showed her flashlight on the on damaged doors to see a shadow dart across the holes.

Sumiko jumped. She remembered what Shu had told her about the camera.

"_It sees, what the normal eye cannot see. Think of it as seeing through the eyes of a psychic…"_

She immediately took the camera from the satchel she had across her shoulder and aimed it at the doors. Something shot out of a hole and Sumiko took a picture, only to see that her target was a piece of paper.

"Really?" she said. But where did it come from? As she picked up, Sumiko saw that it was yellow and stained with age, but the red ink writing looked new. It said:

"_HE WILL FIND YOU! LEAVE NOW_!"

The words shook Sumiko to the core. Who wrote this disturbing note? She crumpled it and threw it on the ground as if it would protect her from the dark environment she was in. After collecting her nerves, she continued on her way. As she walked, Sumiko couldn't help but admire the remaining beauty of the place. The elegant symmetry of the tiles on the walls and roof, garden layouts, everything, so much time and effort had been to into this place and now it was crumbling.

She soon came across a smaller garden with a gate leading down into the woods, a simple garden shed, a peaceful pond with a stone lantern added to the serenity with a little stream that flowed from it and out of a grate in the wall by the shed. Maybe on sleepless nights, a priest or miko would come here to walk around and admire the simplicity of scenery. Then to Sumiko's right, she saw a door. She went to it but when she tried to open it, she saw to her dismay that it was locked. She saw the lock on the door and her disappointment turned to curiosity.

There was a symbol above the keyhole that looked surprisingly familiar. On a hunch, Sumiko took out her smartphone and looked up the Chinese Zodiac. There she found out that her hunch was right, the symbol was from the zodiac and that it represented the snake. But where would the key be? Sighing with frustration, Sumiko noticed the lock had a wavering aura.

As if by instinct, Sumiko took out the Camera, which was vibrating slightly. She took a picture of the lock. The lens revealed an image of a basket on a shelf. Could this be a clue?

Sumiko didn't know, but this was absolutely fascinating. This Camera could solve problems!

"A basket on a shelf…" she said to herself, "maybe the key is in there but where would this basket be-." She turned around to see the garden shed. It might have what she was looking for. Excited Sumiko ran/walked to the shed and entered it. It was both creepy and filthy.

The tiny space was absolutely dark, save for the moonlight steaming through the open door and the window above a raised floor that served as a loft and extra storage place. The ground space was covered with shelves and racks that held old rakes with dust and cobwebs between their wooden teeth, garden shears so rusty they probably couldn't cut through a small twig, tarnished hori hori knives used for moving plants and sickles, thick, spindly ropes and dozens of dust caked baskets containing hammers and nails. Guiding the flashlight around the dusty space, Sumiko found to her left, to her surprise, the shelf from the photo. She blinked. She couldn't believe it, the shelf was right there next to a rotted flight of steps that lead up to the loft.

She walked over to it and looked in the biggest basket. Sumiko cringed as her fingers went through a dusty cobweb with the filthy silk covering her fingers like icing and she hoped there were no spiders in there. But soon her fingers touched cold metal and she knew she had just found what she was looking for. She pulled out a shiny iron key that possessed the symbol of the snake zodiac on it, just like on the door.

"Wow!" she whispered in shock.

Just then the door slammed shut.

Sumiko panicked and she swung her flashlight around to see nothing was there. She then heard bare footsteps walking across the across the dirt floor. Following the sound with her flashlight, Sumiko 's blood nearly froze in her veins when she saw a rusted sickle rise out of its rack on its own. Turning off her flashlight and crouching towards the front of a shelf in the center, she began to get her camera out. The footsteps rounded the shelf.

After getting the Camera in her hands, Sumiko backed up to the now locked door. Her heart was beating a mile a minute, she imagined this scenario numerous times as she watched horror films, telling herself what she would do in the protagonists shoes, but now she was in a real and very terrifying situation and she found that she couldn't think straight. In the moonlit darkness, Sumiko could see the sickle floating in the air towards her slowly. Taking a deep breath, Sumiko raised the Camera Obscura up to her eyes. In the lens, she saw the ghost. It was a thin old man with white hair and he wore old traditional clothing.

His eyes were pure white and they stared a hole in Sumiko. Sumiko could sense anger coming from that gaze, anger and fear. The Gardener proceeded towards Sumiko with eerie silence. The mystic circle in the Camera's lense lit up as he got closer. She pressed the button before it got full and he stopped in his track from the moderate blast.

After recovering, he disappeared and reappeared behind the shelf and coming towards Sumiko the way he had come in earlier. Sumiko focused the camera, now more confident and relieved that the Camera was working. The Gardener picked up a basket and threw it at Sumiko who dodged the projectile. He then outstretched his hand to grab Sumiko while the other was held the sickle high above his head ready to strike. Sumiko shot a **Shutter Chance**, pushing him far into the back of the shed and he vanished.

The indicator in the camera was still red, so Sumiko proceeded with caution, the Camera still at her face. Some baskets and boxes in the back were moved slightly and Sumiko tensed up, her finger on the button. The Gardener shot out from the back with his sickle raised only for his enemy to defeat him with another **Shutter Chance**. The Gardener made these gasping noises as he swung his sickle around before grabbing his face and disappearing into the air, the rusty sickle clattered on the floor, scattering particles of rust on the ground. Sumiko panted with relief and her panic was overtaken with excitement.

She had just caught a ghost!

Elated, she noticed that she had dropped the key and she found it lying on the floor. She promptly scooped it up and exited the now unlocked shed. Approaching the locked door, Sumiko put it through the lock and turned it, an approving click greeted Sumiko's ears. She pushed the wooden door open and she came upon a hallway. She went in, closing the door behind her.

Upon reaching the corner, she saw to her left a row of shoji decorated with green noren (decorative curtains) that had a symbol composed of a persimmon between two leaves in white. Despite the neglect, the doors looked rather well kept, unlike the ones seen at the Dining Halls and by the looks of it, this was probably the room of someone important. Sumiko tried opening it, but it wouldn't budge. It was like it was being held shut by someone behind the door. Ignoring it, Sumiko turned to explore farther up the hallway.

No sooner did she had she taken those steps that she saw something at the corner of her eye. She turned to see a figure of a young woman, in a lavender sweater and blue jeans walking down an adjacent hall. Sumiko stared wide-eyed at the phantom. She recognized the clothing by the descriptions she read from the article describing the disappearances of the three teens back in 1984. Sumiko had just seen the specter of Ayumi Oshiro.

With lightening speed, Sumiko brought out the Camera and took a picture just as the figure disappeared out of sight. Sumiko was both scared and excited at the same time. If things continued on like this, she would be able to tell the true story of what happened to the Watanabe Three. Sumiko went running down the hallway. As she reached the doors, she saw Ayumi go to through them.

Pushing the doors open, Sumiko came upon a stunning courtyard, the pillars were painted red, the patchwork ranma (transom, a decorative thingy above doors and in this case a walkway), gorgeous bronze lanterns hung from the eaves of the ceiling, giving off soft light around the square periphery that enclosed a Zen like garden with raked stones, boulders and some bushes and a tree. In that garden, was the man she had seen enter the shrine earlier. He was kneeling down on the stones holding a couple pieces of paper in his hand. He was reading them intently. He looked up in shock when he saw Sumiko.

Sumiko froze.

She then mustered a nervous smile and she waved to him.

"Hi…" she said nervously with a chuckle.

* * *

**So what do you guys think? Unlike Akio, Sumiko has no experience with the paranormal but she will grow resistant over time. When writing this, I thought about how when someone disappears mysteriously, people begin coming up with these strange stories and how that person simply becomes that, a character for numerous cheesy horror stories and they cease to become people entirely. Thats just how I feel, if you get what I mean. Anyway thanks for reading and _please review! :)_**

**PS: What do you guys think of the Gardener? He's going to have a short backstory later on that will explain why he is mute. Also, heres a surprise. Minako Kobayashi, Sumiko's best friend, is the daughter of Fatal Frame heroine Miku Hinasaki! She married a man named Shuichiro and they had two daughters, Minako and Manami. **

**This isn't from a Fatal Frame site, this is what I made up on my own. Miku continues the tradition of naming family members with names that start with the letter M and Minako has the hair clip that Miku wore in the series. **


	4. Chapter 3: Black Flames

**Here is chapter 3! I suggest reading this with a light on, or if you want ambience, read in the dark with scary music on! But do so at your own risk… (heeheehee). Anyway, enjoy!**

**Author's Note:**** Profanity and graphic detail ahead.**

* * *

**_Beforehand…_**

After his run in with the Slashed Throat ghost, Akio had continued on his way down through the halls. Upon turning a corner, he saw a closet and wanting to be thorough, he investigated it. Nothing remarkable was inside; just some boxes containing miscellaneous items that were of no use to Akio except for a small, very old container. He removed the cap and saw that it contained herbal pills inside. Not one to trust seriously outdated medicine, Akio nonetheless pocketed it.

Who knows, maybe the medicine had gained significant potency over its century and a half stay in the closet. Beside the container, Akio found what appeared to be a ragged scrap of old paper that was written on. It said:

"_Black flames… Man with no Skin… People screaming… People turning into ash… Am I going insane? No… This place…"_

The text disturbed Akio. It sounded like the ramblings of a person going mad. But it was the faded date that Akio could make out at the top of the page that really caught his attention. It said September 15, 1907, the same year and month that Hideki Asou went missing over 104 years ago. Akio thought he would be excited that he had found something that had belonged to Ikue's great-grandfather but he wasn't.

Instead he felt a morbid sense of dread. If this was from Hideki, something very awful had happened to him and Akio might run into the long missing man sooner or later… And there was the mention of a "Man with no Skin". Akio had heard of the "Skinless Man" legend and now just hearing that name sent a chill down his spine. He could anywhere, waiting, watching and planning…

Shaking the thought from his head, Akio closed the closet. Just as he turned, he saw a flash of white and blue in the corner of his eye. Akio tensed but his sixth sense told him that the entity wasn't hostile. Intrigued Akio went into the general direction of the spirit, only to come across a beautiful atrium with a Zen garden in the middle and magnificent bronze lanterns hanging from the ceiling. In the garden, Akio saw a specter, but it wasn't the one he just saw.

This one was dressed in white and gray, with a fedora and waistcoat. His back was turned to Akio, but he was absolutely sure who this spirit was. It was Hideki Asou. It looked like he was taking pictures of the structure and then he vanished and in his place was a pile of papers. Excited, Akio sprinted towards a flight of stairs and eagerly scooped up the articles.

One of them was page from a journal.

"_September 8, 1907_

_I have finally reached the Watanabe Shrine! However, my excitement was slightly dampened when I tried carrying my luggage up these old steps. The villagers refused to help me, they only carried my belongings and equipment from the train station to a border represented by a special marker in the woods, and they refused to go any further. However, it was worth it. The shrine is absolutely breathtaking._

_It has been fifty-two years since its abandonment but it still retains it remarkable physical and spiritual beauty. Its paint chipped, moss and weed grown in a few places but Watanabe still looks like a respectable religious venue. This place is supposedly haunted by the sprits of pilgrims and priests who were slain in a massacre. I am here to discover and document any paranormal occurrences here. I brought my projector and my uncle's camera for this._

_The scientific community laughed at my uncle for his fervent belief in the existence of a world beyond our own. He disappeared on a trip into the mountains and he has never been seen since for over nineteen years. I hope I can find something to strengthen his claims and help him be recognized as a forerunner of study into the paranormal. I dedicate this research to my honorable uncle, Kunihiko Asou (1836-1888) and to my daughter Ayu."_

As Akio read the words intently, he heard a noise. He looked up and saw to his surprise a young woman in gothic clothing. She had spikey, dark hair that appeared to be cropped short at the back with bangs on her face and cheeks, thick eyeliner, a black studded choker with a silver necklace with a ruby hanging below it, a dark purple shirt with a skull and crossbones on her chest, fingerless black gloves topped by spiked, studded or plain leather or plastic bracelets, a ragged pair of jeans with white framed holes and a pair of black leather strapped boots with silver buttons. One thing in particular that caught Akio's attention was the bandages that were wrapped around the young lady's upper left bicep. Besides that, it was one hell of an outfit.

He knew he was staring, but Akio couldn't take his eyes off the bizarre getup. He hoped that his daughter would never dress like that. Another thing put him off but he wasn't quite sure what it was. The young lady stared back and then she put up a nervous smile and waved.

"Hi…" she said nervously from dark painted lips. Even her fingernails were painted black. Akio recovered from his shock and curiosity.

"E-e-excuse me miss, but may I ask who you are and what are you doing here?" he said in a stern yet friendly tone. The girl seemed taken aback by his gesture; she didn't expect this kind of tone. As she crossed her arms, she spoke:

"My name sir is Sumiko Yamada. I am eighteen and I have every discernable right to be here." She said in a bold tone.

"But you shouldn't be here though!

"Speak for yourself asshole!" She said sharply. Akio had to admit it was pretty hypocritical of him to tell her she wasn't supposed to be trespassing while he was obviously doing it himself. However, he did not have to take that tone from her.

"Hey now, I'm sorry if I was being self-contradictory but I didn't deserved to get sworn at." He said in the tone he used on his students. The girl was undeterred and she simply shrugged.

"Sorry dude, its just I don't like hypocrites and I don't appreciate being told what to do by one!"

"Do your parents know you're out here? Are you by yourself or do you have friends with you?"

"Nope."

"No as in…?"

Sumiko rose her hand up and as she spoke, she pointed up two fingers.

"No as in, number one in correct order of your questions: My parents don't know. My dad died in a car accident when I was nine, my mom is currently hospitalized and I am now living with my grandparents. I lied to them. And number two, I am all by myself, no one else is here but you and me."

Akio was shocked. She certainly liked getting to the point by being a smartass. Not appreciating her attitude too much, Akio got of his knees and proceeded to leave the garden and walk towards her.

"What are you doing? Go away!" she said.

"Listen young lady. I don't know if you know this yet, but this place is not safe and if something were to happen to you and when your parents were to find out that you were here with a complete stranger, things will not go well for you." He said "And for that reason. I am going to escort you out of here and tomorrow morning I am going to get you train tickets, watch you get on that train and see you off."

"Dangerous? Sir I can take care of myself. I got this." She pulled out an old camera and Akio froze.

It was a Camera Obscura! It was modeled like the ones from the mid-Twentieth Century, the ones with the stick by the side that had the circular shade behind the bulb to magnify the flash. Where had she gotten that? Akio was speechless. Without a word, he produced his own Camera, which surprised Sumiko.

"Have you seen them?" she said without her combative tone.

"Yes I have just recently."

"Me too…" she said.

For a second it was quiet until Akio's head snapped straight towards the hallway that he had gone through earlier. The doors were open and he could see the lavender shirted woman walking down the hall. Sumiko bolted towards the door shouting:

"Ayumi wait!"

Akio tried to follow Sumiko only for the doors to slam shut in his face and it wouldn't open. He could hear Sumiko's footsteps disappear into the distance. What was so special about that woman she had went after? He hit the door in frustration.

"Great, now this…" he muttered to himself.

* * *

Sumiko ran down the halls following the path that she assumed Ayumi was taking. She soon came across some double wooden doors and saw Ayumi's specter go through. She entered into the Dining Hall. It was huge and still adorned with its lacquered tables, utensils, cushions, damaged shoji and dusty hanging scrolls in the alcove in the wall. But Sumiko couldn't take the time to enjoy this scenery.

The moment she entered, she felt an extreme temperature drop. She could see her breath as she crossed her arms. An eerie sound caused her head to turn to the left where she saw a wooden closet door. Sumiko had a gut feeling that something was in there but what? Then Sumiko fazed out.

In scratchy, black and white, Sumiko regained her senses. She was still in the Dining Room but now there were two other women. They were Ayumi and Rina Oshiro. They were clinging close to each other with flashlights in hand. Sumiko couldn't believe what she was seeing.

A hideous scream caused all three women to jump. It sounded like a man's.

"D-d-dude…" she whispered. She hadn't learned Akio's name yet. She heard another sound like blowing wind or something breathing coming from the hall. Ayumi and Rina ran into the closet and hid. Sumiko's vision then changed from her point of view to the point of view of one of the girls.

She could feel the girl's lungs and rapid heartbeat. She could hear deep breaths coming from behind and Sumiko turned to see that Ayumi was behind her, staring wide-eyed at the door. She heard doors opening and she peaked through a crack and saw a great mass of black flames. Sumiko/Rina could see a shadowy image of a figure emerging from the flames. It surrounded him like mist.

Sumiko could make out a few features in the monochrome light. She could see that the figure didn't have a nose, just the boney part without the cartilage and she could see a white glint coming from his mouth. But then Sumiko noticed that the figure didn't have any lips either. It was as if the figure's face was like a skull. It appeared that both Sumiko and Rina did not want to see more as she slowly backed away.

But then Rina's knees pressed hard on the wooden floor.

Could have heard a pin drop in that closet.

It was as if Oshiro sisters' heartbeats had stopped along with their breathing. Rina turned wide-eyed to her equally astonished sister and then she looked through the crack. Neither the figure nor the flames were there, he had disappeared. Where had it gone? The breathing resumed to normal albeit much more slowly. But then faint wisps of black flames danced in the corner of Sumiko/Rina's eyes.

She rapidly turned around to see what appeared to be, lit by the moonlight in the door crack, a single, solid black eye. Sumiko/Rina and Ayumi screamed then. Sumiko's vision returned her own eyes and she barely had time recover from her shock when she the closet door slam open and the girls tumbling out as fast they could. Rina went out first and followed by Ayumi but just as she was about to reach her sister, six large black skeletal arms shot out of the closet and grabbed Ayumi and like an octopus does to its prey, the elongated arms began to slowly drag Ayumi back into the closet. The event that was unfolding was too horrible to behold.

"RINA!" Ayumi shouted desperately with fear-induced tears filling her eyes as she was being dragged into the darkness.

"AYUMI!"Rina shouted in turn and she quickly ran to her older sister's aid. Ayumi reached out for her sister but her left hand was snared by a skeletal one and was held firmly by her side. Rina managed to grab hold of Ayumi's right hand with both of hers and she attempted to pull her sister away from the grip of the demonic arms. Despite their best efforts, the hands would not let go. Rina's shoes slid roughly across the tatami mats, she was not letting go of her sister no matter what.

Sumiko watched in horror as the two got closer and closer to the closet. Ayumi looked back to see the abyss that awaited her and then she turned to her sister. Sumiko, even though she wasn't up close, could see something painful in Ayumi's eyes. She then saw Ayumi loosen her grip on Rina's hands, she letting go so that her sister wouldn't be dragged in to her death with her. Rina began to scream hysterically for her sister not to let go.

As her fingers slowly slipped from Rina's hands, Ayumi smiled. Time seemed to go slower and everything was in slow motion. Sumiko watched intently, her heart beating from sheer terror while at the same time breaking from the tragedy that she was witnessing, a tragedy from that March night all those years ago. Rina's tears fell slowly from her cheeks like little jewels lit by the moon. Ayumi spoke her last words.

"I love you."

Her fingertips slipped from her sister's palms. Time was beginning to speed up and soon, Ayumi was swiftly pulled into the closet and the door slammed shut. Rina stared at her hands in disbelief and then like a madwoman she ran towards the door and began hitting on it with all her might as her sister's screams began to flow out of that room.

"Let her go! Please let her go! Please!" Rina continued pounding on the door. Ayumi's screams got louder and louder and Rina sank to her knees in despair with her fists pounding with less force and her tears started falling in showers onto the floor. She crossed her arms over the door and she rested her head on them, crying. Sumiko could feel tears fall from her own eyes too. Then what seemed like an eternity, the screaming stopped, the only noise was Rina's crying.

But then the door started to slowly open. Rina regained her senses she backed away on hands and feet. The flames gradually surged out and Sumiko could hear footsteps coming from the closet. The figure emerged. Sumiko could've sworn that her heart had stopped.

Standing in that doorway, was the "Skinless Man."

Sumiko couldn't move, in fact sure wasn't even sure if she was functioning at all. She was terrified beyond comprehension. True to his name, the "Skinless Man" had no skin; instead his entire musculature system was exposed. Even in the monochrome light, Sumiko could see that the muscles had the appearance that they were decaying and it looked charred in a few places. A vortex of black flames surrounded most of his lower torso and the face…

It was a skull; the muscles around the jaw, cheeks and skullcap were intact except for his eyelids and mouth. And the eyes… at first glance they appeared to be empty eye sockets but the light gleamed on the dark pools. They were like glass balls filled with oil. He stared malevolently at Rina as she whimpered and trembled on the floor. Her hair was slowly turning white at her scalp. For a minute nothing happened.

Then suddenly in a blink of an eye, the "Skinless Man" dashed towards Rina with blinding speed. She got right back up on her feet and got away just as his arms tried circling around her. Rina ran screaming into the kitchen through the dining hall and he turned to look in her direction, staring directly through Sumiko. It reminded Sumiko of the Terminator when he chased Sarah Connor on the conveyor belt after he got blown in half. That goddamned smile…

He dashed right through Sumiko, sending a tidal wave of chills up and down her spine as he went right after Rina. And then the vision faded and Sumiko was brought back to the present. Sumiko gasped loudly from the shock and fear. She couldn't believe what she just saw. Her mind raced uncontrollably.

"I have to get out of here! No I want to solve this-Your so stupid Sumiko, you will die here and no one will ever find your body and your family will be left to wander what happened to you until the day they die! The "Skinless Man", oh my god, that was the "Skinless Man"! What am I going to do! FUCK!"

Her thoughts were grinded to a halt when she heard the closet door open. It was a simple creak at first, but then the door slowly opened. Heart pounding and sweat dampening her skin, Sumiko retrieved her Camera and aimed it at the opening door. The closet was completely black save for the pale figure that was standing in the doorway. It was Ayumi Oshiro.

Sumiko stood in shock. Ayumi simply looked down on the floor but then she slowly raised her head up, revealing her wide, red rimmed and bloodshot eyes, her glasses had a huge crack on the left lens. She stared directly at Sumiko and smiled softly.

"Rina, why are you still here?"

* * *

**And that is that was the first visual of the "Skinless Man"! What do you guys think? I think his lips could've stayed intact but it just adds to his creepiness along with his missing eyelids. On the other hand, I was going to write the dates the Japanese way (yy/mm/day) but to avoid confusion I wrote it in the style we are all familiar with. I promise that the next chapter will be equally terrifying! Stay tuned and _please review! :)_**

**_PS: Sorry if you get confused with the chapter numbers. I just recently found out how to customize them and I got to work on them!_**


	5. Chapter 4: He Knows You Are Here

**Hello everyone! Sorry for the long wait. My family and I caught the flu but we are all better and my mom and I were binge watching Paranormal Witness together and we were having fun. Plus I had writers block. But here it is. The fourth chapter. Enjoy!**

**PS. Thank you for the review Mirei-Chan! However I wish to point out a mistake that you made in it. Sumiko is not the daughter of Miku, she is the friend of her daughter and the camera she has was a gift from her boyfriend. I hope I am not confusing you. I also like your idea about the Spirit Flashlight! Thank you and I assure you that Akio is handsome! Please enjoy.**

* * *

Sumiko stared in shock at the pale figure of Ayumi Oshiro.

"Rina, why are you still here?" she said tepidly with a faint smile. A shiver went down Sumiko's spine, it was as if the voice was a winter's chill. Ayumi's face suddenly darkened and she began to slowly walk towards Sumiko.

"Why are you still here?" she said with a deeper more emotion wrought voice. She stretched out her arms and her eyes and mouth opened wide. Sumiko thrusted her hand into her satchel for the Camera only to find that the bulb contraption was caught under the lining of the bag. Desperate, she began to frantically yank at the device as Ayumi's anguished spirit closed in, the air turning cold. Sumiko's breath was cloud in the air.

Just as she got the Camera out, Sumiko saw that Ayumi wasn't there anymore. On edge and wary, Sumiko put the Camera up to her eyes and gazed through the viewfinder.

Nothing, but it didn't settle her nerves. The spirit was still here somewhere.

Sumiko didn't have to wait long however.

Ayumi's screaming face suddenly popped into view from the left, startling Sumiko.

"Why are you still here Rina! Why!"

Before Sumiko could click the button, stinging ice-cold fingers gripped themselves firmly around her shoulders, sending chills racing up and down her spine like a train.

"Aaaaaahhhhhh!" Sumiko screamed. After some effort she managed to shake off the specter. As Ayumi recovered, Sumiko quickly returned to her Camera. She managed to score a hit on her before she vanished and reappeared on her right. Sumiko waited for her to get closer.

Ayumi reached out her snow-white hands preparing to strike. But before she could touch her target, Sumiko hit her with a Shutter Chance. She shrieked as she was pushed back through the room. Disappearing again and this time reappearing at Sumiko's front, she slowly walked towards her. Sumiko readied herself as Ayumi faded from view only to suddenly rematerialize right in front of her with a face of absolute terror.

Another Shutter Chance sent her flying far back near the closet. Ayumi was bent over, her hands were slowly coming to her face and Sumiko heard what she thought was panting. It wasn't panting though, it was whimpering. She was scared. Ayumi was still stuck in 1984, stuck in that dark closet with no hope of ever escaping.

"Rina…Rina…you have to get out now…" she said with sadness. Sumiko felt bad and she began to slowly approach the specter.

"…you have to get out now… **OR HE WILL FIND YOU." **

Sumiko froze where she stood. Ayumi's voice had suddenly changed from gentle and soft to something deep and utterly menacing. Tendrils of black flame began to emanate from Ayumi's body. Sumiko had a very bad feeling about this.

**"HE WILL FIND YOU… AND HE WILL KILL YOU!"**

Ayumi suddenly turned her head to face Sumiko, revealing that she now had pitch black eyes just like the Skinless Man's. This caused Sumiko to shiver even more. Ayumi's face contorted into an evil smile, the sound of her skin and muscles stretching to capacity could be heard. Mocking, demonic laughter rattled out of those lips.

"**HE WILL KILL YOU AND HE TEAR YOUR SOUL FROM YOUR BODY! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"**

As that awful laughter resounded throughout the room, it seemed that that everything contained inside was coming alive. Teacups, saucers, plates and chopsticks began to shake violently and even the battered doors shook in their tracks and muffled voices began to fill the air. The Dining Hall had become a living nightmare. Although terrified to her wits end, Sumiko readied the Camera and aimed at the corrupted spirit of Ayumi Oshiro. The fight was really on now.

Ayumi disappeared only to be found floating quickly above the tables, her head almost touching the ceiling. Sumiko followed her movements; the mystic circle was gathering strength. Ayumi dematerialized once again and before Sumiko could react, she was latched onto her right side like a leech.

"**WHY ARE STILL HERE RINA? DO YOU WANT TO DIE?" **

Sumiko closed her eyes tight to avoid looking into the night black eyes of her assailant and struggled with all her strength, the deep, dark words rattled her eardrums. She could feel the wax inside her ears melt from the heat of her fear. She managed to throw her off but this goaded an evil chuckle from Ayumi.

"**YOU WANT TO DIE? YOU WANT TO JOIN ME? WHY?"**

"No!" Sumiko screamed and tried to take a picture but Ayumi vanished before any damage could be done by it. Sumiko then instinctively turned around to see Ayumi closing in faster than she could react. But then a blinding light pushed Ayumi back as she screamed in surprise. She was stunned and was trying to regain herself. Sumiko blinked in shock and she saw the source of the light in front of her.

It was a boy in his early teens. He wore the clothes of a Shinto priest in white and blue colors, his pale skin was dim in comparison with his luminous white robes. His left middle and pointer fingers were together and pointed in the direction that Ayumi was sent flying towards. The young man turned towards a very surprised Sumiko. His dark eyes met hers and she felt strangely calm, she somehow knew he meant no harm.

He lowered his left arm to his side and he outstretched his right hand and in his palm was a small red stone.

"Use this." He said in a distant tone. Sumiko hesitantly took the pebble from him and examined it. It didn't look at all remarkable despite its deep maroon color.

"What am I supposed to do with this—" the boy was gone. Ayumi was recollecting her strength and the flames around her became more ferocious. Sumiko panicked. What was she going to do? Then she saw something on her Camera Obscura.

She had never noticed it before, but there was a tiny slot the same size as the pebble. She put it inside and looked through the Camera's lens and saw that a small yellow symbol had appeared in the lower right corner of the viewfinder. Ayumi was now up and ready, deep menacing chuckling coming from her evil lips. She charged Sumiko who in turn snapped a photo. She was in for a surprise.

The yellow symbol suddenly magnified itself in the lens and a golden hued blast resulted, sending Ayumi's corrupted spirit to be flung so far back that she went through a wall. The shaking utensils and doors were stilled. Sumiko couldn't believe it. She looked at the part where she put the stone and found that it was gone. It appeared that it could only be used once but it seemed that it had a devastating effect on Ayumi. The furniture began to shudder again as Ayumi appeared through the wall, black flames writhing like maggots on a corpse over the wall face as she went through.

Her oily eyes were wide with fury and her teeth were grinding against each other. She was angry but Sumiko didn't feel scared, instead she felt confident that victory was in reach.

And it was.

After staring down her enemy, Ayumi charged her opponent in a last ditch effort to kill her, only to put down by one more blast from the Camera Obscura. This final strike was just as blinding as the light given off by that boy from earlier. It also seemed to have a purifying effect on Ayumi, since she shrieked even louder than before and the flames evaporated into the air and the tension and shaking in the room ceased. Ayumi's hands came up to her face as she made her final throes. She slid her fingers down her face, revealing that her eyes were no longer black, stared back at Sumiko.

Her fingers fell completely away and she vanished, but words in her normal voice resounded throughout the now completely still room.

"Rina, you have to get out now…or he will find you…"

Something was on the floor at the spot where Ayumi had vanished. It was another red stone and an age stained note with red ink writing, just like the note Sumiko found when she first came here. The sentences were scattered and far apart but it was still readable.

"_Rina_

_don't feel bad_

_live_

_for me_

_and_

_mom and dad…"_

Sumiko's brow fell as she read the sentimental words. She made a mental note to take this to the family when she had the chance. She folded it and put it away in her satchel. Curiosity be damned however, she went over to the closet and opened it. Expecting to see a ragged skeleton and the smell of pent up putrefaction, instead she found a large scorch mark in the center of the room, surrounded by cushions, tables and other spare furniture.

In the center of the scorch mark was a pair of glasses, the same pair that Ayumi wore. Picking them up, Sumiko brushed off the dust and she saw that just like the ghost, the left lens had a large crack in it from being dropped. She fingered the old eyewear, taking in the sentimental and historical value that they possessed. After a minute or two, she took out some Kleenexes she had from a portable pouch and she wrapped the glasses in them in several folds until it looked like she had made a mummy. She put them away right next to the note.

Deciding that she had enough of this room, Sumiko left to explore the rest of the area to see if she could find any clues about the two other missing individuals; Tetsuo Mori and Daiki Ishikawa.

**_Meanwhile…_**

Akio simply shook his head. This Sumiko Yamada was one headstrong person! But he thought, if she got all this way by herself, she would be fine. Deciding to put the matter behind him, Akio looked at the cluster of papers in his hands. Behind the journal entry was a series of notes that Hideki had taken.

" _Day One:_

_- Set up a study station of sorts in the priest dormitory. Projector and Camera are in sound condition and ready for use. (4:15 PM)_

_Nothing strange to note except for the very cool temperature. Its early September but the summer heat still lingers. It is approximately 60 degrees Fahrenheit; just twelve degrees lower than the outside temperature. (4:30 PM)_

_Gentle night breeze as I ate my dinner: dried fish and pickled plums washed down with tea. (6:00 PM)_

_Going to bed with the projector on to see if it can capture any images. Tomorrow I will go exploring with the Camera to see if I can find anything. Good night. (8:30 PM) _ "_

Behind the detailed notes was an old photograph with three people in it. Hideki had an angular face and a thin build. He was wearing a kimono, as was the woman beside him, most certainly his wife. Between them was a little girl no older than three. She wore a stunning kimono compared to her to her mother and she held a very elegant porcelain doll the size of a newborn in her arms.

She was obviously spoiled. On the back of the photo it said:

"_Ayu's big day! Attending the Shichi-Go-San festival at Hajiki Shrine. Got a great gift from papa! _ November 15, 1903."_

Another photo was behind this one and it was the same girl, just a little older, around seven or so. The date behind this picture was 1907. The first picture stated that the girl's name was Ayu. This was Ikue's grandmother. Her father really loved her…

The sound of doors opening took Akio's attention away from his thoughts and he turned to see the source of the noise. It was a pair of doors opening. Maybe they led to the priest dormitories. He went through and came upon a dusty hallway. Akio was about to go through the door to his left when a strange sound caught his attention.

Rounding the corner, Akio came across another door and the mysterious noise became more prominent. Getting closer, Akio felt a cold, wintery sensation issuing from the door and he began to see the image of shimenawa (sacred ropes) and small strips of shide (paper) criss crossing the door like crime scene tape. In the center of the door was what appeared to be a bloody handprint. Perplexed, Akio reached through the cold air and touched the print. A scratchy, pulsing voice filled his ears.

He could only make out a few words from the disembodied voice.

"_Ritual…_ _we must… the Vengeance…" _

_ "_The Vengeance? What did that mean?" Akio thought. He removed his hand from the print and his ears were filled once again with the strange noise. A vibration rattled against his hip and Akio saw that his Camera was reacting to something. Taking it out and looking through it, Akio saw the viewfinder light up with a lovely blue. He took a picture.

Upon examining the photo, Akio saw what appeared to be a futon with a human shaped lump under the blanket. On top of the mound was a white, smoky shape of a face. Taking this as a sign, Akio immediately went back to the other door and came upon the dormitory. A vast chamber, old futons laid side by side, some of their blankets in disarray and black iron candle sticks stood by or were collapsed on the floor with broken candles. Moonlight dimly lit the room from the paper doors that probably led to garden along with some eerily lit candles.

Walking cautiously, Akio scanned his flashlight about the room, taking in the details. Low murmuring caught Akio's attention. He couldn't catch what it was saying but when he turned to his left, he found Hideki's makeshift workstation farther up ahead. An old projector covered with dust and veil like cobwebs stood on a worn suitcase and scattered about were books and torn pages like fallen leaves in autumn. An old kerosene lantern laid on its side, the glass cloudy with dust and broken and nearby was a small portable desk with pen and more papers. Excited, Akio marched over to the small study.

But as he crossed over the dusty tatami and futons, his sixth sense began to pick something up. Turning to his right, Akio shined his flashlight and found the lumpy futon that was depicted in the photo. Walking over, Akio's sixth sense began to tingle his entire being and a noise filled his ears. The murmuring was coming from this human shaped mound… Akio instinctively took a picture and the same smoky, white face appeared (Eternal Slumber).

"Let him hide…"

A distant voice rattled on through the still air and suddenly two priests appeared. Their eyes were sunken in and a cold aura surrounded their pale gray skin. They began to close in on Akio. Getting out of their way immediately, he readied the camera and pushed them back with a blast. Akio was surprised to find that the viewfinder had locked on to both ghosts.

"Save us… save us…" they said in a haunting tone, getting ever closer to Akio. Biding his time, Akio stood perfectly still even as the cold air around the ghosts chilled the skin under his clothes.

"Everyone is dead… Everyone…"

Just as the priests were closing in the space between them and Akio, he took a picture. Both ghosts were badly injured by the blast and Akio blasted them again, this time finishing them.

"The Vengeance…the Vengeance…"

Those final words echoed in Akio's ears as the two spirits evaporated into darkness. That word "Vengeance" again. Why is it so significant to the spirits here? Akio analyzed the room to be sure that there were no more specters to be had. Thankfully there were not and he sighed with relief.

Immediately retracing his interest back to Hideki, Akio reached the "study". Just as he passed the projector, it came to life with a click and its lens lit up. Akio looked up to see that the device was playing a film on a paper screen set up against the wall. A grainy image appeared on the screen, the image of an empty hallway. The image flickered a bit and then there were two young men, they looked like teenagers.

They looked afraid and suddenly the image cut one of the young men running down a hallway, his massive boot goes through a floorboard and he falls, the view changes and the young man is seen from behind and he slowly looks back, but what he sees is never shown, instead his friend now appears, frantic and in desperation, he crawls into a massive hole in the floor and hides underneath it. Something is above him but the scene cuts to blackness and the screen turns white. Intrigued, Akio went to the projector to get the film reel only to discover that there was no reel in it. He froze.

If there was no reel, then how was it playing those images?

Before he could think more of it, the air turned freezing and monochrome. But it wasn't the sudden temperature drop that surprised Akio, it was the heaviness in the air that got him. It was so tense, so dark, something powerful was here. Standing erect and alert, Akio began to nervously look around to find the source of this oppressive atmosphere. A gust of wind blew down his back and Akio turned around to see that he was about six feet away from the Skinless Man.

Akio's breath halted in his lips and his heartbeat sped into a marathon of frantic beats. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. The Skinless Man was a foot taller than him, but that could have been because he was floating above the floor, the tips of his toes gliding across the old tatami matting in a cloud of flames. The Man's black, oily eyes glared at Akio, sending cold tremors of fear throughout his body like fireworks spreading their lovely rainbows of light across a night sky. The very sight of this apparition triggered visions of the past.

People running, screaming, fire… black fire, flashes of various people and events, a group of white clad individuals surrounding someone suspended in the center, skin being cut from muscle with gleaming knives, people running down a hall, people trying to hide, suicides, a figure hanging from a beam, glimpses into a horrible past that bored itself into Akio's psyche.

Akio ran.

He ran and he ran.

He had never run so fast in his life.

Tendrils of black, seething flames shot around the shrine's halls, balls of flame fell from a burning ceiling, and the people…

Pale figures materialized everywhere, running or collapsing to their fiery deaths and disintegrating into ash. Sumiko opened the doors to what looked like a scene from hell. She froze to the spot, what was going on? She then saw Akio running down the hall at lighting speed.

"Sumiko! RUN!" he shouted. Sumiko saw a black form coming through the hall and saw that it was the long feared Skinless Man. Not needing to be told twice, Sumiko sprinted after Akio. She was soon shoulder to should with the man as they ran for their lives. Akio suddenly stopped, spun around and took a picture of the ghost, only for the film to burn away into ash.

Stunned, Akio went back to running for his life, trying to catch up with a swiftly disappearing Sumiko. They soon came upon the entrance and they gunned it. They raced through the humid fog and out the gate. The Skinless Man watched them run. And without a word, he shut the door and left.

* * *

**Now they have both come face to face with the infamous Skinless Man and so ends their first night at Watanabe Shrine. What secrets will they discover the next night? Stay tuned and you shall find out! Thank you and _please review! :) _**


	6. Chapter 5: Determination and Fear

**Hello again, sorry for the wait everyone! College has started up again and I was getting some things done (i.e. homework, book buying, stuff like that). Any who here is the fifth chapter! This one focuses on Sumiko and Akio getting to know each other a little better and eventually going to the shrine again that night. Now without further adieu, relax and enjoy!**

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_**August 2, 2011**_

_**Ao-migame Ryokan (Green Turtle Inn)**_

_**That morning…**_

Akio woke up groggily from his bed. His body slightly trembled as if he was sick even though he wasn't. It was probably from fear. Seeing the Skinless Man last night had horrified him to no end, even more so than seeing the Slashed Throat ghost. His mind reran images from the night before in the Priest Dormitory when he saw the Skinless Man.

Over the night after he and Sumiko returned to the inn, Akio replayed the terrifying vision of the massacre in his head. Even though it was a quick succession of random images, Akio was able to pick up some details that stuck out to him. He could make out the shape of a fox mask on what appeared to be a young girl in Shinto robes, an imposing man with an elaborate Eboshi hat (possibly the last Kannushi of the shrine), white robed figures with white masks from which Akio could only see the eyeholes, a shirtless man only wearing hakama pants… it was all so bizarre. Who were these people and what were they doing to the person suspended in the middle of a room? From one scene, it looked like the person was being skinned. Was it some secret, gruesome ritual or, a brutal execution?

Akio didn't have the answers but he was sure to find them in Watanabe Shrine. But there was one other dream that disturbed Akio. Ikue was in it and she was at her long lost great-grandfather's workstation and then she was seen pointing to a massive building in another more gigantic courtyard. The building was made with weather stained, grey wood and bell shaped windows and the roof consisted of dark gray tiles. Ikue pointed towards the door and when Akio got closer, he saw that there was a lock with a strange symbol on it.

What did all of this mean?

Hearing his stomach rumbling and checking the time on an antique clock sitting on an elegantly designed chest, which said 8:56 AM, Akio decided it was time for breakfast. He reluctantly got up and went to a telephone to order to see if the morning meal was still being served and the receptionist said yes. Before he ordered, he went to check on Sumiko. She had her own room at the inn and ironically, they were neighbors. Putting on a yukata, he went outside and knocked on Sumiko's shoji door.

He could hear that the TV was on and then he heard a voice.

"Come in." It grumbled.

Akio walked in found Sumiko sitting in front of a TV on a cushion watching cartoons. She looked both tired and haggard. Her hair was still a spiky mess and it was hard to tell if it was a bed head or just her regular hairstyle. She wore a black shirt and purple pajama pants with green bones on it and without her eyeliner, Sumiko's eyes looked very small. She looked at Akio with blank, bloodshot eyes.

"Morning." She said and then returned to her show.

"What are you watching?" he said to her.

"Just some cartoons. Gotta get last nights events out of my head with something cheerful." She said dryly.

"I'm going to get breakfast served up here. Do you want to share it with me?" Akio didn't feel like eating alone, especially after last nights events.

Contemplating this offer, Sumiko turned her head towards him.

"Sure yes please. That would be nice."

After calling in and ordering some food, Sumiko found herself enjoying a traditional meal with her fellow paranormal explorer. There was salmon sashimi, rice, vegetables like eggplant, cabbage, and radish, miso soup, grilled bass, tea, one sunny side up egg for each of them and to their surprise, watermelon sorbet. It was quite a meal. Akio and Sumiko ate in silence. A few minutes later, Akio spoke.

"Excuse me, but I didn't properly introduce myself at the shrine earlier. My name is Akio Toshimoto and I am twenty-seven years old and I live in Iwaki."

Sumiko looked up from her egg.

"Really? Did you guys suffer any damages from that earthquake in March?"

"Yes we did, but thankfully my wife and I don't live near the coastline but it sad to see all the damage wrought from the tsunami."

"Huh… That is sad." She said.

Silence again.

"May I ask again though Miss Yamada, why were you at the shrine last night?"

Sighing, Sumiko took out her smartphone, performed a few actions with it and showed Akio a picture of an old newspaper article. He took it from her hand and read it.

"_**Three Teenagers Missing. Distraught Girl Found But Unable to Speak.**_

_ Originally four, the group went to a local abandoned shrine for thrills but only one came back. Foul play is believed to be involved due to the girl's traumatized condition. Local police have initiated a search for the missing teens and have placed a curfew on the local villages. If anyone sees these three individuals please call 110***** immediately. The families of the missing teens would appreciate your help. "_

Akio saw the pictures of the missing teens and two of the pictures caught his eye immediately. The two were young men identified at Tetsuo Mori and Daiki Ishikawa. He had seen them from the projector image last night. Tetsuo's foot had gone through the floor and he was looking to see what was behind him and Daiki was the one crawling under the floor. Akio remembered seeing the four ghosts going inside last night when he first came to the shrine.

He had heard of the Watanabe Three but he never paid much attention to it until now. Why was this girl so interested in it? Akio gave back Sumiko's phone.

"Are you investigating this?" he asked and Sumiko nodded.

"Yeah. I want to help them and find out the truth about what happened to them."

Akio got the feeling that was more to this but he didn't want to prod her in fear she would bombard him profanity like the last time.

"You want to know why I am here?"

"Sure," Sumiko said crossing her arms. Akio told her about his late friend Ikue Asou and how he wanted to fulfill her dream of finding out what had happened to her great-grandfather. Sumiko just nodded with pursed lips.

"I see, we have something in common."

"Really? How's that?" Akio was quite curious to know what he had in common with a gothic punk girl with an attitude.

"We're both trying to solve old disappearances that no one cares about anymore. The only difference is that you're solving an hundred plus old mystery because of a dream you had while mine is relatively fresh and is being investigated by my youthful curiosity."

Sumiko really loved verbose explanations and somehow subtly making Akio feel old.

"Oh yeah, I met one of the victims from my mystery last night, Ayumi Oshiro."

Akio's eyes went wide.

"You did?"

"Yeah and I also found out how she died. The Skinless Man got her and he almost got her sister too. He had these huge, black skeletal hands that-"

"That's okay thank you. I-I don't want to know."

To Akio, seeing the Skinless Man was terrifying enough and he didn't want to know how he killed people. To change the subject, Akio asked Sumiko about her Camera.

"Oh my boyfriend got it for me. It was a present for our fifth month anniversary," she said with a happy tone free of sarcasm, "He remembered me saying that I liked the old cameras in movies from the 30s, 40s and 50s and his dad has a hobby of making antique cameras from scratch. He called it a Camera Obscura and said that it was based off the ones made by some guy named Kunihiko Asou. What about yours? The real deal or modern reconstruction?"

"Mine is the real deal and it was a gift from a late friend of mine. Does yours work?"

Sumiko chortled.

"Mr. Toshimoto, if this Camera didn't work, I'd be walking with those damn ghosts. This thing has saved my ass more than once last night."

Sumiko then remembered the strange white and blue boy that came to her aid during her battle with Ayumi and gave her that bizarre red stone. She asked Akio if he had seen this apparition. Upon mentioning, Akio did slightly recollect seeing a flash of blue and white when he was heading towards the courtyard. He also remembered sensing no hostility from it and from what Sumiko said about it, he was the kind of spirit to have around! But this spirit intrigued Akio, why did this ghost want to help him and Sumiko?

Akio hoped that he could meet this ghost tonight. Then something came back to him.

"Sumiko you have to go home. This is too dangerous for someone as young as you."

Sumiko was taken aback by this remark, not to mention furious.

"Too young?!" her voice was rising, "Look pal, I don't know about you but I don't really think my age should apply to anything. And second, I may be foul mouthed but I don't deserve being talked down to and third, I can help you."

"How can you help me?"

Sumiko leaned back from the bluntness of the question. She leaned forward once she found the answers in a quiet but sharp tone.

"I have a Camera Obscura too. I can help you beat ghosts and whatever I find in the shrine about that missing dude, I'll tell you okay?"

Deep down, Akio still felt that Sumiko should not be involved with the shrine but he now knew that he had to accept her help because nothing, _nothing,_ was going to sway her from her mission. He was just going to have to swallow his pride and let this young lady have her way.

"Alright," he said with a sigh, "But I want you to keep your family and loved ones updated about your condition daily okay? I don't want them to be worried. In fact, in case anything ever happens to one of us or, some reason, are incapable of using a phone, we should exchange numbers."

"Okay…" Sumiko said with a drawn out sigh accompanied with the rolling of her eyes. "But I should warn you, my grandma is losing her hearing so you got to speak up when you talk to her and my grandfather has the tendency to yell when he talks on the phone so hold it out front of you."

"Thank you for the warning now what are their names?"

"Masanori and Sora Tanaka…"

When Akio picked up his phone, Sumiko saw that his screen saver showed a smiling pregnant woman holding a small rectangular pink sign that said "It's a Girl!" on it in big white letters bordered with gold glitter.

"You're married?"

Akio nodded and he silently held up his left hand to show off his gold wedding ring.

"Yes, I mentioned that I had a wife earlier. Is there a problem?"Akio asked.

Sumiko felt somewhat indignant.

"So you were on my case for being at the shrine because I am eighteen years old and yet its okay for you to be there when you have a wife with a bun in the oven back home?"

Sumiko's words struck Akio with the realization that he was the twice the hypocrite that she now thought he was. For a moment, he considered giving up on his journey and going back home but he couldn't leave Sumiko alone and he didn't want Ikue to wander forever in his dreams begging silently for help. He was pretty much stuck. Sumiko's accusatory eyes were burning with fiery anger, making her small eyes look larger and intimidating.

Akio sighed heavily.

"Yep… I see your point. But for our sakes, lets set aside our differences and try to get along okay? We are involved with a very dangerous and unpredictable situation here and we should at least try to build some camaraderie."

Sumiko relaxed her body and nodded.

"I believe you are right Mr. Toshimoto." She said in a nicer tone. "I find that statement as satisfactory as you do. Now are you going eat your sorbet? It's melting and if you don't want it, I will gladly take it.

_**Ten hours later…**_

The gates of Watanabe Shrine stood tall above Akio and Sumiko like a giant sizing up its prey. Despite being intimidated, Sumiko and Akio looked up the stairs and gate. After spending the day preparing and resting, the two were ready for what the night had in store for them this time. Taking a deep breath, the duo proceeded to march up the steps. Each step was cautious as they hit the mossy steps hard.

Akio hoped that this would be an intellectually lucrative night if the visions that Ikue had shown him were to be believed. He just hoped that the Skinless Man would not appear that night; he didn't think his heart could take another run-for-your-life sprint again. Sumiko was thinking a similar thought. She was hoping to find out more about the deaths of Tetsuo and Daiki and in case of any run-ins with the Skinless Man, Sumiko had packed two bottles of energy drinks she purchased at a local convenience store in town. They were soon in the courtyard.

There was no fog this time but it didn't make the place any less eerie. A crescent moon bared its dim light upon the haunted grounds with the stone lanterns contributing their light to place as well. Even though there was nothing there, Akio felt tense. He could feel a great deal of evil permeating the atmosphere and it placed a heavy weight on his heart. The Skinless Man probably knew they were here and was watching them from the darkness.

Sumiko could feel the tension too and she looked around nervously. The moonlight had twisted the shadows of the trees in the barren courtyard, making the branches look like fingers that stretched across the area of the place as if the trees themselves wished to escape this haunted structure. For a minute, Sumiko imagined what it would look like from the air and she thought it would resemble an M.C Escher painting. The lighthearted thought lifted her spirits a bit and it calmed her beating heart. If only Akio could think of the same thing…

They reached the main doors.

"Ready?" Akio said.

"Yeah." Was Sumiko's reply.

Akio opened the door slowly as Sumiko raised her Camera up just in case a spirit decided to surprise them. The spirit stone lit up another symbol in her Camera. Akio's Camera sadly did not possess a slot for the strange object however his curiosity was piqued on the effects of this stone. He hoped to see its power in action eventually but not soon. No sooner had he gotten the doors open did the two see a spirit.

It was a man, slightly taller than Akio, wearing a uniform that was worn by soldiers in the Japanese Imperial Army. The soldier turned around, revealing a handsome bespectacled face to the two. Sumiko snapped a photo in shock and the man turned back towards the hall and vanished into thin air. Something laid on the steps he was standing in front of. It looked like a piece of paper torn from a book.

Walking over to it, Akio picked it up and saw that it was a page from a dairy and it was split into two boxes for the dates July 11th and 12th and on the upper left corner of the page was the year 1928. Akio was perplexed. This was dated twenty-one years after Hideki had vanished.

"What it is it?" Sumiko said. Akio read the page.

"_July 11, 1928_

_ There is no turning back for us. I have brought shame on my family by going AWOL from my barracks and Momoko has run away from her okiya******. But, I do not regret it. From the moment I first met her at that teahouse, I knew we were meant to be together. Now we shall begin our lives anew in Fukushima, far away from Kyoto and from the people who knew us._

_I am sorry mother, father and sister, but I want to follow my heart and my heart is telling me to be with Momoko. I do hope we can meet again sometime in the future after all your anger has passed…_

_ July 12, 1928_

_ We made it to Fukushima. However, we had to leave the train station in haste because a businessman had recognized us from a newspaper article. We had to leave our luggage behind but it was no cause of concern for us since they had nothing too important in them anyway. At least we had our money and Momoko said she was willing to pawn her hairpieces in case we needed more. She's a good woman._

_Our luck seemed to get worse as a thunderstorm came our way and we had to run to find shelter at this abandoned shrine. At least we are dry…"_

"Awww…" Sumiko sighed with sad wonder and sympathy, "how romantic."

Akio couldn't picture Sumiko as a romantic person even though she said she had a boyfriend. But he had to admit, that passage their did invoke some feelings in his heart. It kind of reminded him when he first met Tomomi in college. But his thoughts turned dark on prospective fates of this love struck couple. If they stayed here, then it was pretty obvious on what had happened to them…

"He" probably got them. Just then, a strange shuffling noise filled Sumiko and Akio's ears. It sounded like it was coming from the walls and ceiling.

"Is that mice?" Sumiko asked nervously. But it was obvious that the noise was too big for a mouse or even a group of them. Akio could feel that something was up there but what and who? Soon, as suddenly as it occurred, the noise stopped.

"Rina…"

A cold, spine tingling chill went up Sumiko's spine and both she and Akio swung around with their flashlights in hand to look. Sumiko could have sworn she had just heard Rina's name being called. It was low and muffled and it sounded slightly masculine. Could it be Daiki or Tetsuo? Were those noises earlier one of the boys spirits?

"What was that?" Akio asked.

"I-I don't know… Lets just get out of this place and go somewhere else."

"Fine with me."

They moved on and just as Sumiko turned, a pale hand reached out of the wall to grab her but she was out of its reach. Akio turned around one final time to see nothing was there. Passing it off as frazzled nerve, Akio continued on his way. As the two went by the Pilgrim Dormitories, the white and blue boy appeared in the foyer. He watched them with sad eyes.

He looked up to the ceiling as dust and dirt fell down through him as something moved up above him.

"Don't worry you poor lost soul. Your salvation will come this night."

And with that he vanished.

* * *

**That blue and white boy has a mysterious motive but what could it be and what is the story about that lost couple from 1928? Things are getting more interesting! The next chapter is going to be a doozy but I will have chores and homework to do so I don't know when it will be available next. On a ****side note, I try to write this story so that when you read it, it will be like you are playing Fatal Frame in your mind. And also for some trivia, the games have theme colors: Fatal Frame - pink, FF 2: Crimson Butterfly (Deep Crimson Butterfly) - red, FF 3: The Tormented - blue, FF 4: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse - yellow and the spin-off game Spirit Camera - purple. **

**This story's color theme would be green. Green for decay and hope. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Thanks again and _please review! :)_**

***= Emergency number for police services in Japan. They have a separate number for paramedics and firefighters. **

****= geisha house**


	7. Chapter 6: Dust and Darkness

**Sorry for the wait people! I had homework, rearranging or changing texts in the chapter and other distractions. But here we go, number 6! This will be an informative chapter that will reveal a little history and isight into the goings on in Watanabe Shrine. If this story is going too slow please let me know! I promise though there are going to be ghosts in this chapter! Enjoy!**

**Author's Note:**** Profanity ahead**

* * *

Even though the crescent moon had lit up the courtyard outside, its light could barely pierce the darkness of Watanabe's halls and since it was a fairly cloudy night, it would get even darker, causing Sumiko and Akio to rely on their flashlights more heavily this time. But Sumiko didn't mind, in fact, this darkness seemed to attune her to her surroundings. It made her more aware and acute to the sounds of the shrine. The building settling, the creaking of the floorboards beneath their feet and the sound of inhales and exhales that passed through and out of her nostrils. Being focused allowed her to think clearly and to be able to anticipate a ghostly ambush.

Akio's sixth sense was also attuning itself to the environment. There was nothing there to be worried about yet, but Akio's ears was picking something up. It was too distant to discern anything distinct, but Akio thought he was hearing voices. A cacophony of mumbling and whispering touched his ears as delicately as a snowflake. He wandered what they were saying and so did Sumiko…

They soon passed the Pilgrim Dining Hall and Sumiko perked up. She had fought Ayumi in the adjacent hall and she was hoping that her spirit would not shoot out of the wall surrounded by flames to pay them a surprise visit. Akio didn't sense anything but he was still wary. After a cautious trek through the halls, Akio took Sumiko to the Priest Dormitory to get a look at Hideki's notes. Just as they reached the door, Akio crossed his fingers behind his back.

This was in full view of Sumiko and this didn't do her heart much good as it started to speed up slightly. With her Camera raised, Akio opened the door.

Nothing was there.

The duo breathed a sigh of relief. The room was very dark now since the moon's dim beams could not pierce the mildew and grime covered shoji across the room and the only light came from the candles and flashlights. This gave the chamber an even more haunting and foreboding effect. One thing that caught Akio's immediate attention was the old kerosene lamp by the workstation. It was on its side last night and now it was standing up, clean and lit.

This made Akio's own heart pound a bit harder. Who had lit the lantern? There was nothing malevolent in the room so the two tread cautiously across the tatami and futons.

"What is that?" Sumiko said hesitantly. Akio maneuvered his flashlight to where hers was pointing to see the same human shaped lump from last night under the blankets. Strangely, this relieved him.

"Its nothing Sumiko. Don't worry."

Upon reaching the workstation, the two began to look over the papers and in the small cabinets and suitcases. Despite the pell mell, the papers provided valuable information for the two, especially for Akio. Besides papers, there were old books with scars of age and use on their spines, photographs and some used and unused film reels. The used ones had numbered labels and names.

Together, the two poured over the disorganized notes. Each handful of paper they grabbed was different or unconnected to each other. Journal entries, notes, reminders, observations and a September page from a calendar, were all mixed into the mess. Nonetheless however, they all provided invaluable information about Hideki's experiences and about the shrine itself. He took amazingly detailed notes.

_"Watanabe Shrine was founded during the Heian Era by Kazuya Watanabe. The shrine is built with two religious faculties on its grounds: a Buddhist Temple and a Shinto Shrine. This was to accommodate the various religious needs of the surrounding villages. Before the shrine was built, the locals believed that in the mountain behind this structure was an entrance to Yomi*****. The people revered it as a sacred place and they left offerings and performed animal sacrifices to appease the souls of the dead and evil spirits. After the shrine was built, the Watanabe family placed the duty of placating the spirit world on their own shoulders. _

_And thus the Ceremony of Cleansing was born. This Ceremony was performed once every thirteen years and it ended with a glorious festival to celebrate the coming peace. _

_ This all came to end on May 21, 1855. However, I find the story of a bloodthirsty warlord to be untrustworthy. I do not see any slash marks from swords; no pockmarks from arrows or bullets, and no blood splatter anywhere. All I can see on these walls are these strange scorch marks…_

_ What happened here?"_

Intrigued, Akio tried to look see if he could find any more notes like the one he just read but instead he found scraps of paper with brief observations.

_"One kerosene bottle was missing. I looked all over the room for it but then I found it back at the spot where I had originally left it…"_

_ "I miss Ayu and Kazuki…"_

_ "Heard footsteps out in the hall last night. It sounded like someone was trying to sneak by…"_

_"HE WILL NEVER TAKE ME!" _

The ferocity of the words startled Akio. The letters were written in capitals and were huge. The mention of "he" made Akio's spine shiver. He knew who Hideki meant…

A vision interrupted his thoughts. He suddenly saw a terribly frightened figure struggling through a vortex of swirling paper. Akio's point of view kept switching from his own to the man's. In the man's point of view, Hideki's, Akio could see a dark figure. It wasn't the Skinless Man however, this figure looked feminine and it wore a dark colored kimono.

"Go away! Please go away!" Hideki screamed at the silent figure beyond the sharp pages that spun around him like a tornado. Akio's heartbeat began to beat harder in sync with Hideki's when he saw that the figure was floating towards him. Hideki tried to back away but the paper seemed to follow him with each step. The figure was soon close enough for Akio/Hideki to make out the details of the specter.

It was a woman; she had a pale face with a hint of gray and snow-white eyes that peaked through some loose bangs in her face. There was also something on her mouth that resembled a piece of paper. She suddenly disappeared and the paper vortex stopped and they all fell down. Hideki was breathing heavily. Then the figure suddenly rematerialized and lunged towards him, a muffled shriek held back by a bloody talisman over her mouth.

The vision ended with Akio falling on his back with a gasp.

"Mr. Toshimoto are you okay?!" Sumiko asked in alarm. Akio's shock was lessening but the chaotic beating of his heart was going to take more than a minute or two to calm down. After taking some deep breaths, Akio tried to pick himself up albeit very shakily.

"Easy there…" Sumiko said as she helped him up. "You're going to be okay. Just take it easy for a minute alright?" She said in reassuring tone. It was quite comforting in fact and Akio calmed down almost immediately.

"Good, have you calmed down a bit? What happened?" she said it so calmly that Akio was surprised. He was at loss for words but he quickly found his voice.

"I-I-I had this vision and… I saw this man being attacked by this ghost…"

The muffled shriek throbbed in his ears and Akio clamped on them both in futile attempt to make the dreadful cry stop.

"You… see things?"

"What?"

"I said, do you see things?"

"Yes, yes I do. Believe or not I have a sixth sense. I didn't want to tell you because, well, I don't really know you that well and from my own past experiences… most people are not very receptive of my gift, not even my own family, so I am pretty used to not talking about it much to anyone at all."

Sumiko frowned.

"Sir, last night I encountered and have photographic evidence of the paranormal that any wannabe ghost hunter would sell his or her soul to have. I think telling me that you are psychic isn't going to complicate anything…"

Akio was astounded. Never, in all of the eighteen years that he had known that he possessed a sixth sense, did anyone, other than his grandmother or Ikue receive the knowledge of his gift with approval. This acceptance had Akio swallowing a small lump of happy tears back down his throat.

"Th-thank you Sumiko. That means a lot to me to know that you are not skeptical of my ability."

"Don't mention it. Before you fell over, I found something in this mess that I believe you would like. Its pretty eerie though."

Sumiko handed him a piece of paper and he read it aloud for Sumiko to hear.

_"September 10, 1907_

_ Today has also been a rewarding day as well for my research! Yesterday I took infallible photographic evidence of the paranormal with my camera and priceless footage on my projector. However, my excitement was dampened by the content I found in the kyozo (Buddhist temple library) in the Temple Courtyard. I found books and scrolls with pictures that detail gruesome acts of ritualistic violence. People getting their tongues cut out of their mouths, a man suspended over a floor by his wrists as he is being flayed alive by these five masked figures in white, the faces of demons screaming in agony in smoke as they are being burned alive in a pyre that cremates a skinned human body._

_ These images bring to mind the old stories about the Ceremony of Cleansing. Every year, during the first week of January, a retinue of priests would go to the villages with a blind man they called a "Malice Seer". His duty was to select five individuals of either gender to participate in the rituals of the Ceremony. The Malice Seer supposedly had the ability to see how much evil was gathered around a person and he would select someone who had the most. After gathering five, the retinue would return to Watanabe Shrine._

_ These people were never seen again and rumors of human sacrifice were rampant. I now believe that those tales are indeed true. And according to the images of skinned men, the Skinless Man ghost was no doubt, a sacrifice here. I am getting a very bad feeling about this..."_

Bad feeling was right; Akio felt uneasy after reading that and so did Sumiko. It appeared that people were brought here to die, and by the most gruesome and painful way imaginable.

Flaying.

Akio got up.

"Lets go out to the Temple Courtyard to the kyozo." He said to Sumiko. "Maybe we will be able to find out more about these rituals there."

Ikue had shown him in his dream a large building that looked like a kyozo with a strange symbol on the lock on the door. It reminded him of something but he didn't know what. Just then that same shuffling noise was heard again. The two of them froze. It sounded like it was coming from the wall and was going up the ceiling.

Wood creaked under the weight of this unseen thing. It sounded heavy whatever it was and it moved rather quickly.

"Daiki…"

A faint voice whispered through the room and the candles went out. Sumiko and Akio jumped. To add to their dilemma, their flashlights began to flicker.

"Daiki…" the voice said louder.

The two got together closely. Akio could sense something but he didn't know where it was coming from.

"Somebody help me! Please!"

The voice was so loud it shook the room and it was followed by this deep cry of fear. Sumiko wanted to hide under the futons but she was too scared to move, as was Akio. Just as soon as it began, the noise died down and everything was calm. The candles relit themselves and the flashlights started up again. Even though the rooms' atmosphere was back to normal, Akio and Sumiko were not. They were still hyperventilating and clinging to each other in fear.

After a minute or so of trembling, the two looked at each other and immediately separated.

"What was that?" Sumiko said nervously. Akio was at a loss for words. That voice had completely taken him off guard, however, a possible answer was forming in Sumiko's brain. The voice sounded masculine and it was calling for somebody called "Daiki".

"Daiki as in Daiki Ishikawa!" Sumiko exclaimed in her mind. If that voice was calling for Daiki, then maybe the owner of it was Tetsuo Mori.

"Mr. Toshimoto-san!" She said suddenly towards Akio, startling him from his thoughts. "Can you sense where that voice came from?"

He was shocked by the suddenness of her question.

"Sumiko, my sixth sense isn't like a GPS, I don't know where that voice came from—"

At the corner of his eye, Akio saw a flash of white. Sumiko followed his gaze and they were now both looking at the White and Blue Boy. He was in the doorway of the chamber staring at them.

That's the boy!" Sumiko whispered pointing. Akio took a good look at the boy that Sumiko had met last night. He looked to be the same height as Sumiko with smooth well-kept hair that seemed to glisten by the light of his immaculate robes.

"W-w-who are you?" Akio asked. The boy simply stared and he began to walk away down the hall. Without thinking, Sumiko bolted after the boy.

"Wait, Sumiko! Awww goddamnit!" Akio hissed and he chased after her. He managed to catch up to Sumiko as she rounded the corner towards the door that had the bloody handprint on it last night but was now nothing more than a scorch mark. Not wanting to be locked out again, Akio sprinted in time for the door to close behind him. Sumiko was still going.

"Sumiko wait up!" He called after her. Just as he resumed his run, Akio's mind suddenly fazed out and he soon found himself in an environment that reminded him of a silent film; scratchy black and white. Akio turned around, his breath coming out in clouds and he saw that the door, though the same was in a dead end of a hallway and there was candle next to it. Backing up slowly, Akio suddenly saw himself illuminated by a flash of light. Alarmed, his gaze fell upon a boy whose style resembled Sumiko's. The only thing different about it was that he was decked out in more leather and metal in contrast to Sumiko's mélange of cloth and plastic with occasional leather and metal.

He also had a dyed streak in his hair and he had these massive leather and metal boots that looked heavy and hard to move in. Remembering the pictures from Sumiko's phone earlier that morning, Akio quickly deduced that the young man before him was Tetsuo Mori and he looked so scared. He didn't see Akio and he moved out of the way as the man made his way with cautious steps, the boots making soft clomping sounds as they struck the dusty wood. The man went towards the door and he tried to open it but it was locked.

"Damn it!" the young man hissed. He then knocked on the door. "Daiki, are you in there? If you are, please answer me. I am freaking the fuck out!"

No response, the young man turned away disappointed and even more afraid. He walked past Akio when they suddenly heard a whooshing sound. Akio froze; he had that sound before last night. He turned to his left and he saw the Skinless Man appear. Tetsuo turned around and he screamed.

Tetsuo just took off running and the Skinless Man simply proceeded after him leisurely at his own pace. Akio looked down the hallway and he saw Sumiko looking down towards him. She was experiencing the same flashback, the flashback of Tetsuo's fate twenty-seven years earlier. Just like with Slashed Throat, Akio suddenly found himself in Tetsuo's point of view. He felt his lungs inhaling and exhaling at an exceptional rate and his breath coming out in troubled, deep breaths.

A sudden noise of snapping wood vibrated in Tetsuo/Akio's ears and the hallway fell slightly from view and a stinging, burning, jabbing pain began to flare up in Tetsuo's right ankle. His heavy booted foot must have gone through a weak section of the floor and for some reason, his foot turned left and his ankle sprained.

"Ahhhhhh Goddamnit, Goddamnit!" he screamed. Turning around he saw the Skinless Man approaching. This terrifying sight gave Tetsuo the adrenaline to get himself out of the hole and to sprint/limp. The point of view changed back Akio's own and he suddenly found himself in front of Tetsuo with Sumiko. As Tetsuo tried in vain to escape, the Skinless Man suddenly became sadistic.

From the black flames that surrounded him, the same six black, skeletal hands came out and they began to scratch the walls and ceiling. He was taunting the poor boy as he tried to run.

"Oh God…" Akio thought. He was really hoping he didn't have to tangle with the Skinless Man. Instead of grabbing the limping man with the hands however, the Skinless Man instead simply floated towards Tetsuo and he grabbed and turned him around to face him and the Skinless Man began to lift him up by his neck. Akio's point of view went back to Tetsuo's and he found himself to be staring into the black eyes of the Skinless Man himself. The eyes were like black holes that one could get lost in and never come back out of and from which no light could ever pierce. The black voids studied Tetsuo for a moment before small flames began to ignite around Tetsuo's body, covering his eyes like a mourning veil.

The flames soon became an inferno that engulfed his whole body as he screamed. Akio's point of view came back to himself.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH! OH MY GOD HELP ME!" he screamed. He kicked and thrashed to no avail. Black flames erupted from Tetsuo's eyes and mouth like a blowtorch and the flames became more intense and ash began to trickle down from his body. In a matter of seconds, the whole body was nothing more than a pile of ash. Akio was left to stare in fear with Sumiko at the ash pile in front of them and the being that caused it.

The vision faded.

It almost comforting to see the color of the hallway again. Sumiko just stared down the hallway. She had just learned the fate of Tetsuo and now she wasn't sure that she wanted to know what had happened to Daiki.

Clomp-shump…

Akio and Sumiko perked to the strange noise. It wasn't the same as the shuffling noise they had heard earlier, this one was much heavier and it sounded like someone was dragging something. In fact it sounded like Tetsuo's boots. Aiming her flashlight down the hall, the two saw a figure emerged. The light caught his vibrant red hairstreak and it lit up his pale skin along with his metal studs and chains, making them glitter like stars.

The ghost of Tetsuo Mori stopped in the center of the light in the dark, windowless hallway. He turned to face the group, his white eyes staring helplessly into nothing, a look of sadness and fear on his face. Upon seeing the group his gaze widened and he began to limp towards them slowly, his left boot hitting the ground hard as his right slid along the floor.

"Help me…"

Clomp-shump…

"He's coming…"

Clomp-shump…..

"Save meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

* * *

**Tetsuo has finally appeared. I would like to note that like earlier antagonists, the Skinless Man possesses a familiar of sorts with those skeletal hands. Kirie Himuro had that mass of writhing souls on her back, Sae Kurosawa had the Kusabi and Reika Kuze had that Miasma Reaper thing… Thank you for reading and for being patient! _Please review! :)_**

***= Japanese underworld**

**PS: I think it would be cool if Sakuya Haibara had a cloud made up of the faces of those who started "Blooming" when they saw her face! I haven't played the ****game (wicked expensive import price, _$98.99!,_ and I do not play the Wii) but I do read the Zero Wiki and have learned some valuable information. I highly recommend it for fatal frame fans! **

**Also, the combination of Shintoism and Buddhism in Japan was called Shinbutsu-Shugo. Since Shinto shrines aren't that large, I couldn't pass up the ****opportunity to use this! I thought of using a castle but I had everything set for the shrine and castles would be protected sites.**


	8. Chapter 7: Aku-seijo

**Long time, no write! I am sorry for the long wait, college responsibilities and writers block has been consuming my time and mind. Anyway, here is the seventh chapter of my story. Sumiko and Akio are now about to be engaged in a fight with the spirit of Tetsuo Mori, Ayumi Oshiro's boyfriend and the first ****victim of the Skinless Man that March night in 1984. Because of college, the publishing of chapters will be longer but I trust you all be patient. The wait can give me more ideas for the story! So anyways, enjoy! Your patience shall now be rewarded. :)**

* * *

Akio and Sumiko each took a step back as they saw Tetsuo approach them. They whacked each other's fingers as they reached frantically to grab their respective Cameras. The Cameras whirred to life as they began to focus on Tetsuo's agonized, limping spirit. The Mystic Circles of both charged up slowly as Tetsuo limped closer into range.

"Help me… Please help me…" Tetsuo's spirit lamented. He continued on his path towards the two individuals in front of him, vanishing and reappearing from left to right, dragging his injured foot along the way across the ancient floor, getting closer. The Circles were about 90% charged.

"Ready?" Akio asked Sumiko as their Camera's were reaching their peak power. They were now completely charged and the ghoulish face of Tetsuo Mori was now close enough to make one more uncomfortable.

"Yeah…" was her reply and together they pressed the buttons. The effect of the dual blast sent Tetsuo flying backward all the while letting out a shocked and pained wail. Tetsuo's spirit collected itself at the very end of the hallway and was bent over forward. The sound of his heavy leather jacket rubbing against his jeans could be heard. Akio and Sumiko slowly walked forward just in case Tetsuo decided to surprise them.

Tetsuo looked up towards them, his ghostly eyes seemed to stare at both them and nothing simultaneously. Akio and Sumiko stopped their advance. They looked on with pity at the apparition before them. The spirit's eyes widened and Tetsuo suddenly let out that same terrified scream the two had heard back in the Priest Dormitory and just like before, their flashlights flickered out and they were plunged into darkness. To add further to the problem, there were no windows in this hallway, Akio and Sumiko were totally in the dark with a desperate and crazed spirit.

"Oh God!" Sumiko gasped and she started to turn her head left to right in a futile attempt to observe her now totally dark surroundings. Akio himself was also in the dark, both physically and mentally. He couldn't sense Tetsuo anywhere in this pitch darkness and this worried him greatly. This had never happened to him before.

This wasn't good.

Clomp-shhhhuuump…

"I'm scared… so, so scared…"

Tetsuo's fearful words floated towards Akio's ears along with that dreadful dragging noise on the wooden floor.

Clomp-shhhhuuump….

The noise sounded like it was coming from behind him so Akio swiftly turned around in pitch-blackness but the noise vanished and it resurfaced again somewhere farther away down the hall where he last saw Sumiko before this paranormal black out. A flash of white at his right caught the corner of Akio's eye along with the dragging sound causing him to turn around to face the ghost with the Camera raised up to his eyes only to find nothing. He did discover however that the Camera's lens did give off a faint light that illuminated the wall, but barely.

"Sumiko!"

The shout startled Sumiko.

"What?!"

"Use your Camera to see through this! You might be able to find him if you move around a little!"

Taking his advice, Sumiko raised the Camera to her eyes and looked through. As she squinted through the lenses, her nostrils caught the scent of tobacco smoke. That was strange, as far she knew, Akio didn't smoke and she herself did not partake in cigarettes. If the smell was not coming from him, then where was it coming from? Goose bumps began to rise up on her back in a wave as she came to the conclusion of who was the owner of that smell, and that he was right behind her…

"You can't hide from me… nor him…"

The voice sent chills down Sumiko's back. Regardless, Sumiko took a deep breath, spun around and quickly snapped a photo of Tetsuo's ghoulish face. The blast pushed him back slightly and she backed up a bit to put some distance between herself and the spirit.

"Mr. Toshimoto, he's here! He's right in front of me!"

Akio turned around to see the frightened face of Tetsuo, his mouth agape and his eyes glaring at Akio, flying towards him with his hands ready to grab him. Akio pressed the button and the Shutter Chance flung Tetsuo towards a wall behind Sumiko. This Shutter Chance had a great affect on Tetsuo as well the darkness in the hallway because it lifted as their flashlights came back on like a miracle. Sumiko turned around to find the spirit was once again behind her and she blasted him too. Tetsuo grabbed his face with one hand and then the other and he fell against the wall. He slid down, his knees to his chest and he began to weep.

"He's real, he's real… The legends were true! We shouldn't have come here… I'm so sorry Shigeo… I'm so sorry…"

He wept even harder. Akio and Sumiko looked at each other in confused pity.

"Who's Shigeo?" Akio asked. Sumiko thought for a minute and then said;

"I remember reading that before he disappeared, Tetsuo had a little brother and that they were living with their aunt. Maybe that's who Shigeo is."

This info brought sadness to Akio's face. He couldn't imagine the pain Tetsuo had been going through for the last twenty-seven years, his brother too. Tetsuo was trapped in this shrine with the ghost that killed him, never able to leave or move on and Shigeo never knew what happened to his big brother, his role model and best friend. Akio wandered if he ever found peace with his brother's disappearance. Then again, who does find peace when a loved on is missing?

Sumiko and Akio just looked on with sorrow for this poor, lost soul. But sorrow turned to terror when Sumiko saw black flames rising from Tetsuo's form. Akio went wide-eyed at this phenomenon; it reminded him of the flames that surrounded the Skinless Man. As the two took a step back, Tetsuo, in a blink of an eye, got up and appeared suddenly in front of Sumiko, his cold paper white hands gripping her shoulders, his eyes black as night.

**"WHY DIDN'T YOU AND AYUMI COME TO HELP US!? DIDN'T YOU HEAR US SCREAM!?"**

He shouted as he shook Sumiko violently and she dropped her Camera.

"I-I don't know! I 'm not Rina!" Sumiko said desperately. Akio quickly aimed his Camera and managed to get Tetsuo of Sumiko with a good, solid blast. Tetsuo turned his wrathful attention on Akio now and to their collective horror, instead of limping, Tetsuo began to hobble/run on his injured ankle. Akio took a picture, but Tetsuo vanished before the blast could get him reappeared on Akio's right side. Tetsuo's hand grabbed Akio's throat and he slammed him against the wall and his face was inches from Akio's.

"**YOU KNOW YOU WILL DIE HERE. YOU WILL DIE LIKE US! IN FLAMES AND IN PAIN!**"

Tetsuo said in a tirade.

Meanwhile, Sumiko was trying start up her Camera. It was in good condition, which was a relief, but the drop had caused its film to spill out. She began to frantically pick up her film as Tetsuo held his stranglehold on Akio. She managed to put three pieces of film into her Camera and she managed to hammer Tetsuo with a powerful flash that caused him to let go of Akio.

However, Tetsuo disappeared shortly after letting go. As Akio tried to regain his breath, Tetsuo appeared ahead of them, black flames surrounding him and was walking towards them in a shambling gait. It was scary. Sumiko raised the Camera at his direction, which in turn caused Tetsuo to increase the speed of his gait to a run. Just as Sumiko had him focused in her sights, Tetsuo disappeared only to reappear in a full shambling run.

Sumiko pressed the button and a Shutter Chance occurred. But it wasn't the only for another appeared and it stopped Tetsuo in his tracks and he fell to his knees. Akio had regained his breath and had managed to score a hit on the Tetsuo. The black flames faded and Tetsuo looked up again towards Sumiko. His eyes were no longer black, color had returned to them.

Akio could sense his spirit was fading. And right on queue, Tetsuo began to slowly fade away. But he had one final thing to say them.

"Please… Help us…"

And with that, he was gone and in his place was a shiny key with a symbol on it. Remembering the key from last night, Sumiko quickly looked up the Chinese Zodiac on her phone and found that the symbol represented the Tiger. Where was the lock for this key? She showed it to Akio who began to scrutinize the piece. The symbol reminded him of the dream he had last night with Ikue and the building. He remembered the lock that was featured in the dream; it had that same symbol as the key before him.

"We better hold on to that." He said, "It will become important real soon. Is it okay if I take this?"

She gave her permission and he proceeded to pocket it. Akio remembered the door from earlier and he went up to check on it only to find it boarded up and impassible. A single lit candlestick eerily illuminated the whole thing. With nothing else to see, they turned back and as they went down the hallway, something shone in Sumiko's flashlight. It came from the scorch mark on the floor where Tetsuo had died back in the flashback.

Upon closer examination, it was revealed to be a key with a metal tag that said Honda on it. Sumiko, being an impromptu expert on the Watanabe Three, realized that the keys belonged to Tetsuo's motorcycle. Early into the investigation of their disappearance, the motorcycle was found near the woods by policemen and after the case became cold, it was given back to the Mori family. She wandered if they still had it.

"Another key?" Akio asked.

"Yeah. It used to be for Tetsuo's motorcycle. It was found abandoned in the woods after they vanished."

Akio was impressed by her knowledge. After placing the key in satchel the two continued on their way. As they exited the hallway, the two caught a vanishing view of white and red going through a door. Before the two could register what they just saw, Akio heard a soft, muffled voice.

"Keep it closed… Something's out there… Keep them safe…"

It sounded like a woman's voice, maybe the door lead to the Priestess Dormitories. However, despite the brief sighting, Akio sensed nothing from the room, which was a relief. As they passed the Priest Dormitory, Akio thought to go in and collect some of Hideki's notes so that he could read them tomorrow morning. Sumiko was slightly hesitant but Akio assured her that nothing was there and soon they were on their knees going through the scattered mess. Smidgens of interesting words caught by glances revealed interesting tidbits to their welcoming minds.

One note in particular caught the attention of Akio. It was labeled **Aku-seijo **and it read:

"_From what I have gleaned from the books in the secret library in the kyozo have proven to be an invaluable insight into the secret rituals of this shrine. For example, the texts mentioned the words Aku-seijo numerous times. It means "evil vessel". It is often used synonymously with sacrifice so it is obviously the formal name for the people who were brought here after the Choosing Ritual. The female equivalent is Aku-seija and there are a few of them mentioned too._

_Also mentioned were people called Guards. Their duty apparently was to watch over the Aku-seijo and to protect them from outside influences and to make sure that they kept to the strict rules that were enforced on them by the ancient laws of the Ceremony. These people were dressed from head to toe in white and even wore masks. This was supposed to keep the Aku-seijo from bonding with them for some reason. They were even mute too..."_

Akio held the paper away from himself with a furrowed brow.

Aku-seijo…

Evil vessel…

Mute and socially distant Guards…

Such a wealth of facts and yet it offered so little answers at the same time. What were the rituals that were performed here as part of the Ceremony of Cleansing and why was one of those "Aku-seijo" now running amok about the halls of the shrine as an angry, skinless spirit. These endless questions came to a halt when the projector clicked on and a great fan of light poured forth and an image came on the canvas screen. It showed a flight of stairs being ascended via first person view. Then a well-dressed figure stood in front of a door with a frightening and ornate lock.

It was made in the likeness of an oni's face with bared fangs, a flowing mane, two horns and three eyes. The eyes were the most prominent feature due to their piercing quality. However, the next image saw the eyes gone, leaving only black empty holes in their place. But then the clip changed to the façade of a grand temple and then the scene switched to reveal a gleaming, giant Buddha statue, then in one corner in front of a lattice wall, was the soldier spirit seen earlier by Akio and Sumiko tonight. In his hand was a pistol, his head down.

The next scene showed a small room with tatami and standard furniture, and a woman kneeling facedown on the ground with dark puddles forming around her hands. The image then went to two little girls holding each other behind a boulder, trembling with fear. With that final scene, the projector ended the slideshow with a whirring clicking sound as the film stopped. Both were perplexed by this series of dark images, what did they mean? A sudden gust of wind paralyzed the two where they were kneeling.

Cold sweat began to trickle down Akio's neck, which was now riddled with goose bumps and stood on end hairs. Fear turned to relief when the source was identified as a summer breeze seeping under the shoji in the room and not a surprise visit from the Skinless Man. Despite the peace, Akio and Sumiko didn't want to stay around for the Skinless Man to come find them so they hurried with their data gathering. After collecting what they deemed to be worthwhile, Akio took several papers and a few photographs taken by the handful out of a leather folder into Sumiko's surprisingly roomy satchel. Briskly they rose, to hasten their departure from the room and went onward towards the kyozo, hoping that Tetsuo will be the only black-eyed spirit out tonight.

But in Watanabe Shrine, one could only hope.

* * *

**So what do you guys think? More details and secrets are being revealed in each chapter along with new ghosts and their tragic stories. By the way, I forget were I found that translation for Aku-seijo. Google translate doesn't have it and then again it is not always accurate. Thanks for reading and _please review! :)_**

**PS. Tetsuo's "blinding" ability is similar to Chitose Tachibana's from Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly. Also, I originally called Watanabe Shrine, Ransuyu Shrine but I felt that it ****didn't mean anything and that it repeated the first letter of Rougetsu Island and I wanted to be original. In Google translate, Ransuyu means "water lance". **


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